Arete Wealth Advisors LLC Acquires New Shares in Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE)

Arete Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 1,928 shares of the software company’s stock, valued at approximately $743,000.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of ADBE. Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co boosted its stake in shares of Adobe by 11.1% during the first quarter. Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co now owns 50,000 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $19,269,000 after purchasing an additional 5,000 shares in the last quarter. Vident Investment Advisory LLC boosted its stake in shares of Adobe by 585.8% during the fourth quarter. Vident Investment Advisory LLC now owns 70,198 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $23,624,000 after purchasing an additional 59,962 shares in the last quarter. Geo Capital Gestora de Recursos Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Adobe by 8.5% during the first quarter. Geo Capital Gestora de Recursos Ltd now owns 10,433 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $4,021,000 after purchasing an additional 813 shares in the last quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC boosted its stake in shares of Adobe by 1,003.1% during the first quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC now owns 1,081 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $417,000 after purchasing an additional 983 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bowen Hanes & Co. Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Adobe by 413.5% during the first quarter. Bowen Hanes & Co. Inc. now owns 97,663 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $37,636,000 after purchasing an additional 78,645 shares in the last quarter. 80.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ADBE has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Citigroup lifted their price target on Adobe from $544.00 to $570.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on Adobe from $600.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 11th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Adobe from $525.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 6th. Piper Jaffray Companies raised their price objective on Adobe from $500.00 to $572.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, June 16th. Finally, 888 restated a “maintains” rating on shares of Adobe in a research report on Friday, June 16th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Adobe presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $573.07.

Adobe Stock Down 4.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:ADBE opened at $528.89 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $241.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.47, a PEG ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a quick ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. Adobe Inc. has a 12-month low of $274.73 and a 12-month high of $570.24. The business’s 50 day moving average is $529.21 and its 200 day moving average is $440.68.

Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, September 14th. The software company reported $4.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.98 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $4.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.87 billion. Adobe had a return on equity of 36.84% and a net margin of 26.34%. Adobe’s quarterly revenue was up 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.63 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Adobe Inc. will post 12.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Adobe news, EVP Dana Rao sold 2,600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $480.21, for a total value of $1,248,546.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 17,466 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,387,347.86. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Adobe news, CAO Mark S. Garfield sold 298 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $526.74, for a total value of $156,968.52. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,055 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,135,930.70. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Dana Rao sold 2,600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $480.21, for a total value of $1,248,546.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 17,466 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,387,347.86. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 43,089 shares of company stock valued at $20,720,115. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Adobe Company Profile

Adobe Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a diversified software company worldwide. It operates through three segments: Digital Media, Digital Experience, and Publishing and Advertising. The Digital Media segment offers products, services, and solutions that enable individuals, teams, and enterprises to create, publish, and promote content; and Document Cloud, a unified cloud-based document services platform.