KeyCorp Upgrades Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) to “Sector Weight”

Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) was upgraded by equities researchers at KeyCorp from an “underweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report issued on Friday, MarketBeat.com reports.

Several other equities analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on shares of Adobe from $700.00 to $650.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of Adobe from $600.00 to $525.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Mizuho reduced their price objective on Adobe from $620.00 to $575.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on Adobe from $650.00 to $550.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic assumed coverage on Adobe in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. They issued a “neutral” rating on the stock. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Adobe presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $538.80.

Adobe Price Performance

NASDAQ:ADBE opened at $389.61 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $434.53 and its 200 day simple moving average is $477.76. Adobe has a 52-week low of $374.50 and a 52-week high of $587.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.07. The company has a market cap of $169.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.42, a P/E/G ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.37.

Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 12th. The software company reported $5.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.97 by $0.11. Adobe had a return on equity of 45.87% and a net margin of 25.85%. The firm had revenue of $5.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.66 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $4.48 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Adobe will post 16.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director David A. Ricks acquired 2,250 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $443.98 per share, for a total transaction of $998,955.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,984 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,212,796.32. The trade was a 82.30 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Scott Belsky sold 3,819 shares of Adobe stock in a transaction on Monday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $430.24, for a total transaction of $1,643,086.56. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 18,334 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,888,020.16. This represents a 17.24 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 5,075 shares of company stock worth $2,191,826. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Adobe

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Swedbank AB raised its holdings in shares of Adobe by 0.3% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 1,196,175 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $619,355,000 after purchasing an additional 3,739 shares during the period. United Bank increased its position in Adobe by 19.7% in the 3rd quarter. United Bank now owns 2,596 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $1,344,000 after buying an additional 428 shares in the last quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Adobe by 29.1% during the 3rd quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 789 shares of the software company’s stock worth $409,000 after buying an additional 178 shares during the period. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. bought a new position in Adobe in the third quarter worth approximately $1,099,000. Finally, LPL Financial LLC grew its stake in Adobe by 0.3% in the third quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 426,883 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $221,032,000 after acquiring an additional 1,443 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.79% of the company’s stock.

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.