ProShare Advisors LLC Raises Stake in Adobe Inc. $ADBE

ProShare Advisors LLC increased its stake in Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) by 34.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 750,440 shares of the software company’s stock after buying an additional 194,296 shares during the quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC’s holdings in Adobe were worth $262,646,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in ADBE. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its holdings in shares of Adobe by 53.3% in the 3rd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 5,617,145 shares of the software company’s stock worth $1,981,448,000 after buying an additional 1,952,994 shares during the last quarter. Dodge & Cox boosted its holdings in shares of Adobe by 8,006.6% in the 3rd quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 1,593,506 shares of the software company’s stock worth $562,109,000 after buying an additional 1,573,849 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Adobe by 55.2% in the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,587,399 shares of the software company’s stock worth $912,705,000 after buying an additional 920,353 shares during the last quarter. Amundi boosted its holdings in shares of Adobe by 17.9% in the 3rd quarter. Amundi now owns 4,888,283 shares of the software company’s stock worth $1,711,583,000 after buying an additional 742,646 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Adobe by 112.6% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,341,410 shares of the software company’s stock worth $469,467,000 after buying an additional 710,357 shares during the last quarter. 81.79% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Daniel Durn sold 1,336 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $248.02, for a total transaction of $331,354.72. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 42,833 shares in the company, valued at $10,623,440.66. This represents a 3.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Jillian Forusz sold 755 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $246.25, for a total value of $185,918.75. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 3,521 shares in the company, valued at approximately $867,046.25. This represents a 17.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 77,091 shares of company stock worth $18,782,773 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on ADBE. Barclays cut Adobe from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $335.00 to $275.00 in a research note on Friday, March 13th. Summit Redstone set a $350.00 price objective on Adobe in a research note on Friday, April 17th. BTIG Research began coverage on Adobe in a research note on Monday, April 13th. They issued a “neutral” rating on the stock. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on Adobe from $400.00 to $325.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Adobe from $420.00 to $405.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Hold rating and five have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $338.15.

Adobe Trading Up 3.2%

Shares of Adobe stock opened at $255.64 on Tuesday. Adobe Inc. has a 52-week low of $224.13 and a 52-week high of $422.95. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $247.40 and its 200 day simple moving average is $289.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $103.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.89, a P/E/G ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.91.

Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 12th. The software company reported $6.06 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.87 by $0.19. Adobe had a return on equity of 64.48% and a net margin of 29.48%.The firm had revenue of $6.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.28 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $5.08 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. Adobe has set its FY 2026 guidance at 23.300-23.500 EPS and its Q2 2026 guidance at 5.800-5.850 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Adobe Inc. will post 19.14 EPS for the current year.

Adobe announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, April 21st that authorizes the company to buyback $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the software company to purchase up to 24.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Adobe Profile

Adobe Inc, founded in 1982 by John Warnock and Charles Geschke and headquartered in San Jose, California, is a global software company that develops tools and services for creative professionals, marketers and enterprises. Under the leadership of CEO Shantanu Narayen, who has led the company since 2007, Adobe has evolved from a provider of desktop publishing tools into a cloud-centric provider of digital media and digital experience solutions.

The company’s core offerings are organized around digital media and digital experience.