Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) Shares Purchased by Van Strum & Towne Inc.

Van Strum & Towne Inc. boosted its holdings in Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) by 54.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,615 shares of the software company’s stock after purchasing an additional 922 shares during the quarter. Van Strum & Towne Inc.’s holdings in Adobe were worth $1,163,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new position in Adobe in the third quarter valued at $26,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Adobe during the third quarter valued at about $30,000. True Wealth Design LLC grew its position in Adobe by 141.7% during the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 58 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares during the period. Briaud Financial Planning Inc purchased a new stake in Adobe during the third quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new stake in Adobe during the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. 81.79% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Adobe Trading Up 4.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ ADBE opened at $394.74 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $437.03 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $482.65. Adobe Inc. has a 52-week low of $374.50 and a 52-week high of $587.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $171.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.83, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 12th. The software company reported $5.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.97 by $0.11. Adobe had a return on equity of 45.87% and a net margin of 25.85%. The firm had revenue of $5.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.66 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $4.48 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Adobe Inc. will post 16.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on ADBE. Citigroup lowered their price target on Adobe from $551.00 to $490.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Adobe from $660.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Oppenheimer lowered their price target on Adobe from $560.00 to $530.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. BNP Paribas raised Adobe from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $425.00 price target for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, KeyCorp decreased their target price on Adobe from $450.00 to $390.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $539.46.

Insider Buying and Selling at Adobe

In other news, EVP Scott Belsky sold 922 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $437.28, for a total transaction of $403,172.16. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 22,153 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,687,063.84. This represents a 4.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Jillian Forusz sold 334 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $435.83, for a total value of $145,567.22. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 2,685 shares in the company, valued at $1,170,203.55. The trade was a 11.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 5,075 shares of company stock worth $2,191,826 over the last quarter. 0.16% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.