Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Acquires 379 Shares of Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System lifted its holdings in shares of Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) by 1.1% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 35,673 shares of the software company’s stock after purchasing an additional 379 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Adobe were worth $21,283,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. One Charles Private Wealth Services LLC increased its position in Adobe by 2.2% during the third quarter. One Charles Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 785 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $400,000 after acquiring an additional 17 shares during the last quarter. Invst LLC raised its position in Adobe by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Invst LLC now owns 915 shares of the software company’s stock worth $467,000 after purchasing an additional 17 shares during the period. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Adobe by 3.1% during the third quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 559 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $285,000 after buying an additional 17 shares during the period. Lantz Financial LLC grew its stake in shares of Adobe by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 689 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $411,000 after buying an additional 17 shares during the last quarter. Finally, B & T Capital Management DBA Alpha Capital Management raised its holdings in shares of Adobe by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. B & T Capital Management DBA Alpha Capital Management now owns 417 shares of the software company’s stock worth $249,000 after buying an additional 17 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.79% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Adobe news, CAO Mark S. Garfield sold 97 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $468.41, for a total value of $45,435.77. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,128 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,933,596.48. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Adobe news, EVP Scott Belsky sold 2,713 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $474.30, for a total value of $1,286,775.90. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 21,114 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,014,370.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Mark S. Garfield sold 97 shares of Adobe stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $468.41, for a total value of $45,435.77. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,128 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,933,596.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 3,006 shares of company stock worth $1,424,432 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.15% of the company’s stock.

Adobe Stock Performance

NASDAQ:ADBE traded up $0.54 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $494.13. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,467,764 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,418,552. The firm has a market cap of $221.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.34, a P/E/G ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 1.28. Adobe Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $331.89 and a fifty-two week high of $638.25. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $507.00 and its 200-day moving average is $561.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 1.05 and a quick ratio of 1.05.

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

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on ADBE shares. TD Cowen reduced their target price on Adobe from $650.00 to $640.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of Adobe from $650.00 to $625.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 15th. BNP Paribas downgraded shares of Adobe from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $499.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Thursday, January 18th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Adobe from $600.00 to $540.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Finally, Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $660.00 target price on shares of Adobe in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Adobe presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $620.72.

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.