Chesley Taft & Associates LLC Reduces Position in Adobe Inc. $ADBE

Chesley Taft & Associates LLC decreased its stake in shares of Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) by 49.2% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 12,693 shares of the software company’s stock after selling 12,274 shares during the quarter. Chesley Taft & Associates LLC’s holdings in Adobe were worth $2,602,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp raised its stake in Adobe by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 20,632,009 shares of the software company’s stock worth $7,277,941,000 after acquiring an additional 352,448 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Adobe by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,531,678 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $4,027,170,000 after purchasing an additional 414,049 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its stake in Adobe by 9.1% during the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 6,792,275 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $1,651,066,000 after purchasing an additional 563,772 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Adobe in the fourth quarter valued at about $2,275,165,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Adobe by 6.2% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,119,025 shares of the software company’s stock worth $1,791,607,000 after purchasing an additional 297,337 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.79% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on ADBE. Wall Street Zen downgraded Adobe from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, July 4th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on shares of Adobe from $290.00 to $230.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, June 12th. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Adobe from $275.00 to $250.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, June 12th. Citizens Jmp reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Adobe in a report on Friday, June 12th. Finally, KeyCorp cut their price objective on shares of Adobe from $235.00 to $195.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 12th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twenty-one have issued a Hold rating and six have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $271.30.

Key Stories Impacting Adobe

Here are the key news stories impacting Adobe this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Adobe launched a unified ChatGPT plug-in that brings more than 70 creative and productivity tools—including Photoshop, Lightroom, Acrobat, image, video and PDF capabilities—directly into OpenAI’s chatbot. The integration could make Adobe’s products easier to access, expand usage and position the company as an AI enabler rather than an AI casualty. Adobe Debuts ChatGPT App Featuring All Its Programs
• Positive Sentiment: Recent coverage highlights Adobe’s valuation after its sharp sell-off. The company is still producing double-digit revenue growth, stable margins and substantial free cash flow, while its latest quarterly results exceeded earnings and revenue expectations. A recovery in investor sentiment or a valuation re-rating could provide significant upside. Buy the Dip or Run: 3 Software Stocks Down 50% Face Their Moment of Truth
• Positive Sentiment: Zacks characterized ADBE as both a long-term growth candidate and a strong value stock, reflecting its depressed valuation relative to historical levels and continuing earnings potential. Why Adobe Systems Is a Top Growth Stock for the Long-Term
• Neutral Sentiment: Akamai’s strong cloud and security results offer an indirect positive signal because Adobe is among its customers, but the report does not provide new information about Adobe’s financial performance. Akamai Beats Quarterly Estimates on Cloud Infrastructure Demand
• Negative Sentiment: Adobe remains one of the software companies targeted by AI-disruption concerns. AI-native competitors could pressure pricing, customer retention and growth, and promotional commentary warns of insider selling, talent departures and business-model changes. These claims are not confirmed in the supplied reporting, but they underscore the key risk investors are monitoring. These Are the Four Signs a Company Is About to Be Destroyed by AI

Adobe Stock Up 1.9%

Shares of ADBE stock opened at $265.21 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $228.08 and a 200 day moving average of $247.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. The stock has a market cap of $105.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.17, a P/E/G ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.40. Adobe Inc. has a twelve month low of $190.12 and a twelve month high of $370.86.

Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 11th. The software company reported $5.96 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.82 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $6.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.45 billion. Adobe had a return on equity of 65.11% and a net margin of 28.69%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $5.06 EPS. Adobe has set its FY 2026 guidance at 24.350-24.450 EPS and its Q3 2026 guidance at 6.050-6.100 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Adobe Inc. will post 19.81 EPS for the current year.

Adobe declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Tuesday, April 21st that allows the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the software company to reacquire up to 24.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Adobe

In other news, Director David A. Ricks acquired 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 25th. The stock was bought at an average price of $194.51 per share, with a total value of $1,945,100.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 17,655 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,434,074.05. This represents a 130.63% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Jillian Forusz sold 416 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $264.33, for a total transaction of $109,961.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 3,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,010,797.92. This trade represents a 9.81% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Adobe Company Profile

Adobe Inc, founded in 1982 by John Warnock and Charles Geschke and headquartered in San Jose, California, is a global software company that develops tools and services for creative professionals, marketers and enterprises. Under the leadership of CEO Shantanu Narayen, who has led the company since 2007, Adobe has evolved from a provider of desktop publishing tools into a cloud-centric provider of digital media and digital experience solutions.

The company’s core offerings are organized around digital media and digital experience.