Merit Financial Group LLC Sells 2,923 Shares of Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE)

Merit Financial Group LLC lessened its position in Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) by 40.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,356 shares of the software company’s stock after selling 2,923 shares during the quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Adobe were worth $2,599,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ADBE. HBC Financial Services PLLC purchased a new position in Adobe during the 3rd quarter worth $25,000. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Adobe in the fourth quarter valued at about $35,000. BluePath Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Adobe during the 3rd quarter worth about $39,000. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. purchased a new position in Adobe during the 3rd quarter valued at about $45,000. Finally, First Command Advisory Services Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Adobe in the 3rd quarter valued at about $52,000. 81.79% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Adobe from $700.00 to $630.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on Adobe from $590.00 to $525.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 15th. BNP Paribas lowered Adobe from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $499.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, January 18th. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $700.00 price target on shares of Adobe in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Finally, Piper Sandler Companies cut their price objective on shares of Adobe from $705.00 to $700.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Two 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $620.72.

Insider Activity at Adobe

In related news, CAO Mark S. Garfield sold 96 shares of Adobe stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $470.00, for a total transaction of $45,120.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,128 shares in the company, valued at $1,940,160. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, insider Anil Chakravarthy sold 100 shares of Adobe stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $471.00, for a total transaction of $47,100.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 33,609 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,829,839. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Mark S. Garfield sold 96 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $470.00, for a total value of $45,120.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,128 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,940,160. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 3,006 shares of company stock valued at $1,424,432. Corporate insiders own 0.15% of the company’s stock.

Adobe Price Performance

Shares of ADBE stock traded up $9.61 on Friday, reaching $486.18. 2,833,186 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,940,603. Adobe Inc. has a 1 year low of $331.89 and a 1 year high of $638.25. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $509.68 and a 200 day moving average price of $562.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.05. The company has a market cap of $217.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.48, a P/E/G ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.28.

Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 14th. The software company reported $4.48 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.38 by $0.10. Adobe had a return on equity of 39.12% and a net margin of 24.08%. The company had revenue of $5.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.14 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.97 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Adobe Inc. will post 14.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Adobe announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Thursday, March 14th that authorizes the company to buyback $25.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the software company to repurchase up to 10.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Adobe 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.