Argus Investors Counsel Inc. Trims Stock Position in Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE)

Argus Investors Counsel Inc. lowered its position in Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) by 8.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,350 shares of the software company’s stock after selling 385 shares during the quarter. Adobe makes up about 1.3% of Argus Investors Counsel Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 25th biggest position. Argus Investors Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Adobe were worth $1,668,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Adobe during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,553,035,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Adobe by 46,806.6% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,990,767 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $1,147,049,000 after acquiring an additional 2,984,391 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in Adobe by 82,528.8% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,042,775 shares of the software company’s stock worth $463,701,000 after purchasing an additional 1,041,513 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its holdings in Adobe by 82.4% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 2,107,788 shares of the software company’s stock worth $937,291,000 after purchasing an additional 952,233 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Two Sigma Advisers LP increased its position in shares of Adobe by 1,414.5% during the fourth quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 889,000 shares of the software company’s stock worth $395,321,000 after purchasing an additional 830,300 shares in the last quarter. 81.79% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Daniel Durn acquired 1,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 20th. The shares were bought at an average price of $390.58 per share, for a total transaction of $507,754.00. Following the acquisition, the chief financial officer now owns 29,876 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,668,968.08. This trade represents a 4.55% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on Adobe from $495.00 to $450.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. DA Davidson lowered their target price on shares of Adobe from $600.00 to $450.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Oppenheimer dropped their target price on shares of Adobe from $560.00 to $530.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Adobe from $380.00 to $430.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on shares of Adobe from $600.00 to $525.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $503.33.

Adobe Trading Up 0.2%

ADBE stock opened at $413.68 on Friday. Adobe Inc. has a 52-week low of $332.01 and a 52-week high of $587.75. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The firm has a market cap of $176.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.36, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.55. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $385.73 and its 200-day simple moving average is $422.64.

Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 12th. The software company reported $5.08 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.97 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $5.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.66 billion. Adobe had a return on equity of 45.87% and a net margin of 25.85%. During the same period last year, the company earned $4.48 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Adobe Inc. will post 16.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Adobe Profile

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.