Short Interest in Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) Rises By 33.5%

Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 10,950,000 shares, an increase of 33.5% from the March 15th total of 8,200,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 4,020,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.7 days. Currently, 2.6% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Adobe Price Performance

ADBE stock opened at $348.80 on Friday. Adobe has a 52 week low of $332.01 and a 52 week high of $587.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $148.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.49. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $403.54 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $450.04. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 12th. The software company reported $5.08 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.97 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $5.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.66 billion. Adobe had a return on equity of 45.87% and a net margin of 25.85%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $4.48 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Adobe will post 16.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Adobe

In other news, Director David A. Ricks acquired 2,250 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $443.98 per share, for a total transaction of $998,955.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 4,984 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,212,796.32. The trade was a 82.30 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Daniel Durn bought 1,300 shares of Adobe stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 20th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $390.58 per share, with a total value of $507,754.00. Following the acquisition, the chief financial officer now owns 29,876 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,668,968.08. This represents a 4.55 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 5,075 shares of company stock valued at $2,191,826 in the last ninety days. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Adobe

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. M&T Bank Corp grew its position in shares of Adobe by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 156,198 shares of the software company’s stock worth $80,876,000 after buying an additional 5,905 shares in the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new position in Adobe during the 3rd quarter valued at about $4,167,000. Morse Asset Management Inc raised its holdings in shares of Adobe by 32.6% in the 3rd quarter. Morse Asset Management Inc now owns 8,494 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $4,398,000 after purchasing an additional 2,088 shares in the last quarter. Te Ahumairangi Investment Management Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Adobe by 12.9% during the third quarter. Te Ahumairangi Investment Management Ltd now owns 4,455 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $2,294,000 after purchasing an additional 510 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Anchor Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Adobe by 1.6% during the third quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 16,261 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $8,420,000 after buying an additional 255 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 81.79% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have weighed in on ADBE. Mizuho decreased their target price on Adobe from $620.00 to $575.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. KeyCorp upgraded shares of Adobe from an “underweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Adobe from $580.00 to $540.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Summit Redstone set a $410.00 price objective on Adobe in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on Adobe from $650.00 to $590.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Adobe currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $513.27.

About Adobe

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.