Merit Financial Group LLC Purchases 3,389 Shares of Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE)

Merit Financial Group LLC lifted its position in Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) by 53.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,763 shares of the software company’s stock after buying an additional 3,389 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Adobe were worth $4,341,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in shares of Adobe by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,712,616 shares of the software company’s stock worth $765,094,000 after acquiring an additional 33,414 shares in the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its stake in Adobe by 12.2% during the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 19,322 shares of the software company’s stock worth $10,005,000 after purchasing an additional 2,100 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Adobe by 28.0% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 6,458 shares of the software company’s stock worth $3,344,000 after buying an additional 1,412 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its stake in Adobe by 201.0% in the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 117,383 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $60,779,000 after buying an additional 78,384 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morse Asset Management Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Adobe by 33.0% in the third quarter. Morse Asset Management Inc now owns 8,519 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $4,411,000 after buying an additional 2,113 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.79% of the company’s stock.

Adobe Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ADBE opened at $429.99 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The firm has a market cap of $189.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 1.31. The business’s 50 day moving average is $476.55 and its 200-day moving average is $512.82. Adobe Inc. has a 1-year low of $403.75 and a 1-year high of $638.25.

Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 11th. The software company reported $4.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.67 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $5.61 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.54 billion. Adobe had a net margin of 25.85% and a return on equity of 45.87%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.52 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Adobe Inc. will post 16.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Adobe news, Director Amy Banse sold 606 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $550.00, for a total transaction of $333,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 32,929 shares in the company, valued at $18,110,950. The trade was a 1.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Scott Belsky sold 481 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $483.42, for a total value 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 approximately $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 1,763 shares of company stock worth $893,665 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.15% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of Adobe from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Adobe from $525.00 to $475.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on Adobe from $610.00 to $590.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. TD Cowen cut shares of Adobe from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $625.00 to $550.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Adobe in a report on Thursday, December 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $573.00.

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.