Nutshell Asset Management Ltd Buys Shares of 30,293 Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE)

Nutshell Asset Management Ltd bought a new stake in Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 30,293 shares of the software company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,471,000. Adobe accounts for 8.5% of Nutshell Asset Management Ltd’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest position.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Adobe by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,680,375 shares of the software company’s stock worth $4,739,788,000 after acquiring an additional 151,286 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Adobe during the fourth quarter worth about $2,553,035,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Adobe by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,808,909 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $1,249,066,000 after acquiring an additional 92,458 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in Adobe by 7.3% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,424,024 shares of the software company’s stock worth $1,235,157,000 after acquiring an additional 163,983 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its stake in shares of Adobe by 82.4% during 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 in the last quarter. 81.79% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on ADBE. Redburn Atlantic initiated coverage on shares of Adobe in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. They issued a “neutral” rating on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their price target on Adobe from $644.00 to $587.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on Adobe from $650.00 to $590.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 31st. Mizuho reduced their price target on shares of Adobe from $620.00 to $575.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on shares of Adobe from $600.00 to $525.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $531.54.

Adobe Trading Down 5.0 %

Shares of ADBE stock opened at $349.07 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $425.66 and its 200-day simple moving average is $463.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 1.07. Adobe Inc. has a 1-year low of $348.80 and a 1-year high of $587.75. The firm has a market cap of $148.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.15, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.49.

Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 12th. The software company reported $5.08 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.97 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $5.71 billion during 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 in the prior year, the firm posted $4.48 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Adobe Inc. will post 16.65 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director David A. Ricks bought 2,250 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was bought at an average price of $443.98 per share, with a total value of $998,955.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 4,984 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,212,796.32. This trade represents a 82.30 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Jillian Forusz sold 334 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $435.83, for a total transaction of $145,567.22. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 2,685 shares in the company, valued at $1,170,203.55. The trade was a 11.06 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 5,075 shares of company stock worth $2,191,826 in 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.