Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. Sells 2,496 Shares of Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE)

Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. cut its stake in Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) by 2.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 121,602 shares of the software company’s stock after selling 2,496 shares during the period. Adobe comprises about 1.3% of Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest position. Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S.’s holdings in Adobe were worth $62,963,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Adobe by 8.8% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,690,163 shares of the software company’s stock worth $5,017,373,000 after acquiring an additional 787,356 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Adobe by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 4,859,584 shares of the software company’s stock worth $2,516,196,000 after acquiring an additional 93,143 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Adobe by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,716,451 shares of the software company’s stock worth $1,406,524,000 after acquiring an additional 21,444 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Adobe by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,975,509 shares of the software company’s stock worth $1,097,475,000 after acquiring an additional 12,065 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its holdings in Adobe by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 1,974,734 shares of the software company’s stock worth $1,097,044,000 after acquiring an additional 15,685 shares in the last quarter. 81.79% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Adobe

In related news, CAO Jillian Forusz sold 676 shares of Adobe stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $484.97, for a total value of $327,839.72. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 2,715 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,316,693.55. This trade represents a 19.94 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Scott Belsky sold 481 shares of Adobe stock in a transaction on Friday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $483.42, for a total transaction of $232,525.02. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 18,128 shares in the company, valued at $8,763,437.76. This represents a 2.58 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 34,187 shares of company stock valued at $17,736,369 in the last 90 days. 0.15% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Adobe Stock Performance

ADBE traded up $1.27 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $520.00. 286,898 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,135,816. The stock has a market capitalization of $228.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 1.30. Adobe Inc. has a 1 year low of $433.97 and a 1 year high of $638.25. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $503.08 and its 200-day simple moving average is $519.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 1.11.

Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 12th. The software company reported $4.65 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.53 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $5.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.37 billion. Adobe had a net margin of 25.59% and a return on equity of 42.82%. The business’s revenue was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.26 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Adobe Inc. will post 14.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Adobe from $550.00 to $621.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. Argus raised shares of Adobe to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $625.00 price target on shares of Adobe in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $660.00 price target on shares of Adobe in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Adobe from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Adobe has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $606.40.

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.