Empire Life Investments Inc. bought a new position in shares of  $Adobe (ADBE.US)$) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 23,577 shares of the software company's stock, valued at approximately $10,742,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vident Investment Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in  Adobe by 17.7% during the 4th quarter. Vident Investment Advisory LLC now owns 8,751 shares of the software company's stock valued at $4,962,000 after acquiring an additional 1,318 shares during the period.  PFG Advisors raised its position in  Adobe by 8.1% during the 1st quarter. PFG Advisors now owns 4,403 shares of the software company's stock valued at $2,006,000 after purchasing an additional 330 shares during the last quarter.  Mirova US LLC raised its position in  Adobe by 26.5% during the 1st quarter. Mirova US LLC now owns 606,103 shares of the software company's stock valued at $276,157,000 after purchasing an additional 126,810 shares during the last quarter.  Rather & Kittrell Inc. bought a new position in  Adobe during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $47,000.  Finally, Farmers Trust Co. raised its position in  Adobe by 6.9% during the 1st quarter. Farmers Trust Co. now owns 10,977 shares of the software company's stock valued at $5,001,000 after purchasing an additional 711 shares during the last quarter. 82.54% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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Insider Buying and Selling

In other Adobe news, EVP Scott Belsky sold 2,711 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $393.58, for a total transaction of $1,066,995.38. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 26,089 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,268,108.62. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Adobe news, CAO Mark S. Garfield sold 132 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $409.75, for a total transaction of $54,087.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 2,465 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,010,033.75. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Scott Belsky sold 2,711 shares of Adobe stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $393.58, for a total value of $1,066,995.38. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 26,089 shares in the company, valued at $10,268,108.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 3,637 shares of company stock valued at $1,438,682. 0.23% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Adobe Stock Performance

Shares of ADBE stock traded down $0.73 on Wednesday, reaching $409.68. The stock had a trading volume of 24,072 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,228,986. Adobe Inc. has a 1 year low of $338.00 and a 1 year high of $699.54. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $397.27 and a 200 day simple moving average of $420.32. The stock has a market cap of $191.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.07.

Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE – Get Rating) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, June 16th. The software company reported $2.70 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.65 by $0.05. Adobe had a return on equity of 36.70% and a net margin of 29.29%. The company had revenue of $4.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.34 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.56 EPS.  Equities research analysts expect that  Adobe Inc. will post 10.99 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ADBE has been the subject of several research reports. UBS Group decreased their target price on Adobe from $450.00 to $415.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, June 17th. Credit Suisse Group decreased their target price on Adobe from $525.00 to $425.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, June 17th. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on Adobe from $550.00 to $450.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, June 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their target price on Adobe from $575.00 to $500.00 in a research report on Friday, June 17th. Finally, Mizuho decreased their target price on Adobe from $530.00 to $480.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, June 17th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have issued  a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $489.31.

About Adobe

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Adobe Inc 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.

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