Shares of Adobe ( NASDAQ:ADBE ) are rising after beating earnings

Share price of Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE – Get Free Report) rose ahead of Friday’s trading following a better-than-expected earnings report. The stock previously closed at $458.74 and opened at $530.25. Adobe shares were last trading at $527.30, with 4,814,564 shares changing hands.

The software company reported EPS of $4.48 for the quarter, $0.09 above analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.39. The company’s revenue for the quarter was $5.31 billion, compared to analyst expectations of $5.29 billion. Adobe had a return on equity of 39.12% and a net margin of 24.08%. The company’s quarterly revenues increased by 10.2% year-on-year. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.04 EPS.

Adobe said that on Thursday, March 14, its board of directors approved a stock repurchase program that allows the company to repurchase $25.00 billion of stock. This repurchase authority allows the software maker to repurchase up to 10.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Share repurchase programs typically indicate that a company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts set new price targets

Many research firms have recently published reports on ADBE. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on Adobe stock in a research note on Friday. In a Friday research report, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Adobe shares from “neutral” to “overweight” and raised their price target for the company from $570.00 to $580.00. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Adobe from $554.00 to $529.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the company in a research note on Monday, June 10. DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $685.00 price target on shares of Adobe in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Adobe from “buy” to “hold” in a report on Wednesday. Two analysts gave the company a sell rating, eight analysts gave a hold rating to the company, and twenty analysts gave a buy rating to the company. The stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $604.35, according to MarketBeat.com.

View our latest research report on Adobe

Insiders place their bets

In other news, on Thursday, May 2nd, Vice President Scott Belsky sold 2,713 shares of the company’s stock. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,014,370.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, available on the SEC’s website. In related news, CAO Mark S. Garfield sold 96 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $470.00, for a total transaction amount 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 approximately $1,940,160. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, available on the SEC’s website. Additionally, Vice President Scott Belsky sold 2,713 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $474.30, for a total value of $1,286,775.90. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 21,114 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,014,370.20. The announcement of this sale can be found here. During the last quarter, insiders sold a total of 3,006 shares of company stock worth $1,424,432. 0.15% of the shares are owned by insiders.

Institutional inflows and outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings in the company. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC increased its position in Adobe by 266.7% during the first quarter. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC now owns 55 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC increased its exposure to shares of Adobe by 346.2% during the first quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 58 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. During the fourth quarter, Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. purchased approximately $35,000 worth of new shares of Adobe stock. In the first quarter, Steph & Co. increased its shares in Adobe by 63.8%. Steph & Co. now owns 77 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. Finally, Hanseatic Management Services Inc. acquired new shares of Adobe stock during the third quarter worth approximately $45,000. 81.79% of the shares are currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Adobe pricing performance

The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $474.63 and its 200-day simple moving average is $541.20. The company has a market capitalization of $235.34 billion, a PE ratio of 50.22, a PEG ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt to equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.05.

Adobe company profile

(Get the free report)

Adobe Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a diversified software company around the world. It operates in three segments: Digital Media, Digital Experiences and Publishing & 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.

Further reading

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