Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC Has $18.68 Million Position in Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE)

Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC lifted its holdings in shares of Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) by 141.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 31,314 shares of the software company’s stock after purchasing an additional 18,323 shares during the quarter. Adobe comprises 1.5% of Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC’s holdings, making the stock its 25th largest position. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC’s holdings in Adobe were worth $18,682,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Adobe by 1.2% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 18,862,098 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $9,223,377,000 after purchasing an additional 229,776 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley increased its position in Adobe by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 10,371,262 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $5,288,309,000 after buying an additional 277,484 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in Adobe by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,358,515 shares of the software company’s stock worth $2,732,307,000 after buying an additional 202,136 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Adobe in the fourth quarter valued at $1,757,029,000. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Adobe by 12.3% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 4,561,859 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $2,326,092,000 after purchasing an additional 498,957 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.79% of the company’s stock.

Adobe Stock Performance

Shares of Adobe stock opened at $504.60 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $228.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.24, a PEG ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 1.05 and a quick ratio of 1.34. Adobe Inc. has a 1 year low of $331.89 and a 1 year high of $638.25. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $571.55 and its 200 day moving average is $571.10.

Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 14th. The software company reported $4.48 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.38 by $0.10. Adobe had a net margin of 24.08% and a return on equity of 39.12%. The company had revenue of $5.18 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.14 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.97 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Adobe Inc. will post 14.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on Adobe from $590.00 to $525.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 15th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $660.00 price objective on shares of Adobe in a report on Wednesday. BNP Paribas lowered shares of Adobe from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $499.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Thursday, January 18th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $630.00 price target on shares of Adobe in a report on Wednesday. Finally, DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $685.00 price objective on shares of Adobe in a report on Thursday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and twenty have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $620.72.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider David Wadhwani sold 6,099 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $571.77, for a total transaction of $3,487,225.23. Following the sale, the insider now owns 7,614 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,353,456.78. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, insider David Wadhwani sold 6,099 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $571.77, for a total value of $3,487,225.23. Following the sale, the insider now owns 7,614 shares in the company, valued at $4,353,456.78. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Mark S. Garfield sold 84 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $591.99, for a total transaction 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 9,162 shares of company stock worth $5,340,250. 0.15% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Adobe Company 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.