Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. Increases Holdings in Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE)

Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) by 2.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 145,126 shares of the software company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,431 shares during the quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Adobe were worth $64,535,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in Adobe during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Groupama Asset Managment boosted its position in shares of Adobe by 28.8% during the third quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 51,482 shares of the software company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 11,522 shares during the last quarter. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Adobe during the third quarter worth $30,000. True Wealth Design LLC increased its holdings in Adobe by 141.7% in the 3rd 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 last quarter. Finally, Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new stake in Adobe in the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Institutional investors own 81.79% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on ADBE shares. Citigroup cut their price objective on Adobe from $616.00 to $590.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their price target on Adobe from $644.00 to $587.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 12th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Adobe in a report on Thursday, December 12th. BNP Paribas upgraded Adobe from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $425.00 target price for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic assumed coverage on shares of Adobe in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. They issued a “neutral” rating on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $567.81.

Insider Buying and Selling at Adobe

In other Adobe news, Director David A. Ricks bought 2,250 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were acquired 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 position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Scott Belsky sold 922 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $437.28, for a total transaction of $403,172.16. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 22,153 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,687,063.84. This represents a 4.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 5,075 shares of company stock valued at $2,191,826 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.15% of the company’s stock.

Adobe Trading Up 1.0 %

ADBE stock opened at $449.40 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $195.67 billion, a PE ratio of 36.24, a P/E/G ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.37. 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 12 month low of $403.75 and a 12 month high of $587.75. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $439.56 and its 200 day moving average is $486.60.

Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 11th. The software company reported $4.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.67 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $5.61 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.54 billion. Adobe had a net margin of 25.85% and a return on equity of 45.87%. The company’s revenue was up 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.52 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Adobe Inc. will post 16.65 EPS for the current year.

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.