Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) Stock Price Up 0.8% - Time to Buy?

Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE - Get Free Report)'s stock price shot up 0.8% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $450.12 and last traded at $448.28. 718,377 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 78% from the average session volume of 3,292,693 shares. The stock had previously closed at $444.68.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on ADBE. UBS Group decreased their target price on Adobe from $550.00 to $525.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. StockNews.com raised shares of Adobe from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. JMP Securities reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of Adobe in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Mizuho decreased their price target on shares of Adobe from $640.00 to $620.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Oppenheimer dropped their price objective on shares of Adobe from $625.00 to $600.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $584.88.

Adobe Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 1.11. The stock has a market cap of $194.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 1.29. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $492.21 and a 200-day moving average price of $521.97.

Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 11th. The software company reported $4.81 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.67 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $5.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.54 billion. Adobe had a return on equity of 45.22% and a net margin of 25.85%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.52 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Adobe Inc. will post 16.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Scott Belsky sold 481 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $483.42, for a total value of $232,525.02. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 18,128 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,763,437.76. This represents a 2.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Amy Banse sold 606 shares of Adobe stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $550.00, for a total value of $333,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 32,929 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $18,110,950. This represents a 1.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 3,293 shares of company stock worth $1,679,809. 0.15% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Adobe

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ADBE. Piscataqua Savings Bank boosted its stake in Adobe by 226.7% during the 3rd quarter. Piscataqua Savings Bank now owns 49 shares of the software company's stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of Adobe during the third quarter valued at $26,000. Groupama Asset Managment boosted its position in shares of Adobe by 28.8% during the third quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 51,482 shares of the software company's stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 11,522 shares during the last quarter. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in Adobe in the 3rd quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, True Wealth Design LLC lifted its stake in Adobe by 141.7% during the 3rd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 58 shares of the software company's stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.