Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) Shares Sold by Scharf Investments LLC

Scharf Investments LLC reduced its stake in shares of Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) by 4.6% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 4,507 shares of the software company’s stock after selling 217 shares during the quarter. Scharf Investments LLC’s holdings in Adobe were worth $2,004,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Piscataqua Savings Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Adobe by 226.7% in the 3rd quarter. Piscataqua Savings Bank now owns 49 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in Adobe during the third quarter worth $26,000. Groupama Asset Managment grew its position in Adobe by 28.8% during the third quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 51,482 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 11,522 shares during the period. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in Adobe in the third quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, True Wealth Design LLC raised its position in shares of Adobe by 141.7% in the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 58 shares of the software company’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares during the period. 81.79% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Adobe Price Performance

Shares of ADBE opened at $437.45 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $463.46 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $504.74. The stock has a market cap of $190.42 billion, a PE ratio of 35.28, a P/E/G ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 1.31. Adobe Inc. has a 1-year low of $403.75 and a 1-year high of $638.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 1.07.

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

Insider Activity at Adobe

In other Adobe news, Director Amy Banse sold 606 shares of Adobe stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $550.00, for a total transaction of $333,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 32,929 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,110,950. The trade was a 1.81 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Scott Belsky sold 3,819 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $430.24, for a total value of $1,643,086.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 18,334 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,888,020.16. The trade was a 17.24 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 5,681 shares of company stock worth $2,525,126 in the last three months. 0.15% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. DA Davidson dropped their target price on Adobe from $685.00 to $625.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Adobe from $700.00 to $640.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. BNP Paribas upgraded Adobe from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $425.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Mizuho dropped their price target on shares of Adobe from $640.00 to $620.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Adobe from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target 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.