GraniteShares Advisors LLC Cuts Position in Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE)

GraniteShares Advisors LLC decreased its stake in shares of Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) by 17.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,776 shares of the software company’s stock after selling 588 shares during the period. Adobe makes up 1.5% of GraniteShares Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest holding. GraniteShares Advisors LLC’s holdings in Adobe were worth $1,656,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. West Paces Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Adobe by 7.6% during the fourth quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc. now owns 467 shares of the software company’s stock worth $279,000 after acquiring an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Adobe by 50.8% during the fourth quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. now owns 14,097 shares of the software company’s stock worth $8,410,000 after acquiring an additional 4,750 shares in the last quarter. Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Adobe by 288.8% during the fourth quarter. Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 11,218 shares of the software company’s stock worth $6,693,000 after acquiring an additional 8,333 shares in the last quarter. Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. boosted its stake in Adobe by 29.1% during the fourth quarter. Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. now owns 22,792 shares of the software company’s stock worth $13,598,000 after acquiring an additional 5,138 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Signet Financial Management LLC boosted its stake in Adobe by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Signet Financial Management LLC now owns 4,550 shares of the software company’s stock worth $2,715,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.79% of the company’s stock.

Adobe Price Performance

Shares of ADBE traded up $6.12 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $476.22. The stock had a trading volume of 2,658,924 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,613,352. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.05. The business has a fifty day moving average of $538.63 and a 200 day moving average of $567.86. Adobe Inc. has a 12 month low of $331.89 and a 12 month high of $638.25. The firm has a market cap of $213.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.57, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.28.

Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 14th. The software company reported $4.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.38 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $5.18 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.14 billion. Adobe had a net margin of 24.08% and a return on equity of 39.12%. Adobe’s revenue was up 11.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.97 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Adobe Inc. will post 14.55 EPS for the current year.

Adobe declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Thursday, March 14th that allows the company to buyback $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the software company to repurchase up to 10.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Mark S. Garfield sold 84 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $591.99, for a total value of $49,727.16. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,055 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,400,519.45. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, CAO Mark S. Garfield sold 788 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $615.42, for a total value of $484,950.96. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,055 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,495,528.10. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Mark S. Garfield sold 84 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $591.99, for a total transaction of $49,727.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,055 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,400,519.45. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 3,063 shares of company stock valued at $1,853,025. 0.15% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on ADBE shares. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $610.00 price objective on shares of Adobe in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Adobe in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on shares of Adobe from $650.00 to $625.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 15th. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Adobe from $600.00 to $540.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 15th. Finally, TheStreet cut shares of Adobe from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and twenty have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $620.72.

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.