Franklin Resources Inc. Has $939.91 Million Stock Position in Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE)

Franklin Resources Inc. reduced its position in shares of Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE - Free Report) by 12.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,113,685 shares of the software company's stock after selling 310,339 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. owned about 0.49% of Adobe worth $939,913,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in ADBE. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new position in Adobe in the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Groupama Asset Managment lifted its holdings in Adobe by 28.8% during the 3rd quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 51,482 shares of the software company's stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 11,522 shares during the last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC lifted its stake in Adobe by 141.7% during the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 58 shares of the software company's stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Adobe in the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, Summit Securities Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Adobe during the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. 81.79% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on ADBE shares. StockNews.com downgraded Adobe from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Adobe from $660.00 to $600.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Barclays cut their price target on Adobe from $675.00 to $645.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Adobe from $640.00 to $600.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Finally, DA Davidson decreased their price target on Adobe from $685.00 to $625.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Adobe has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $531.54.

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Insider Transactions at Adobe

In related news, EVP Scott Belsky sold 922 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $437.28, for a total value of $403,172.16. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 22,153 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,687,063.84. This represents a 4.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Jillian Forusz sold 334 shares of Adobe stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $435.83, for a total value of $145,567.22. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 2,685 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,170,203.55. This trade represents a 11.06 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 5,075 shares of company stock valued at $2,191,826 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.16% of the company's stock.

Adobe Trading Down 3.7 %

ADBE stock traded down $14.22 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $371.56. 2,737,245 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,326,730. Adobe Inc. has a 52-week low of $367.96 and a 52-week high of $587.75. The stock's fifty day moving average is $428.78 and its 200-day moving average is $465.84. The company has a market cap of $158.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.96, a P/E/G ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

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

Adobe Company 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.