Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Sells 614,701 Shares of Adobe Inc. $ADBE

Key Points

• Assenagon Asset Management cut its Adobe stake by 47.1% in the third quarter, selling 614,701 shares and retaining 691,632 shares valued at approximately $165.95 million.
• Adobe’s investment outlook is mixed: an expanded NVIDIA partnership and raised fiscal 2026 guidance support its AI growth narrative, while analysts cite competitive risks from generative AI and lower-cost alternatives.
• Institutional investors own 81.79% of Adobe, but recent insider selling—including 74,500 shares sold by CEO Shantanu Narayen—could weigh on sentiment. Analysts collectively rate the stock “Hold,” with an average price target of $283.90.

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lowered its holdings in Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE - Free Report) by 47.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 691,632 shares of the software company's stock after selling 614,701 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned about 0.18% of Adobe worth $165,950,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in Adobe during the second quarter worth about $8,437,821,000. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Adobe by 6.2% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,119,025 shares of the software company's stock valued at $1,791,607,000 after acquiring an additional 297,337 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its stake in Adobe by 9.1% in the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 6,792,275 shares of the software company's stock valued at $1,651,066,000 after acquiring an additional 563,772 shares during the last quarter. Amundi grew its position in shares of Adobe by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 4,724,102 shares of the software company's stock valued at $1,148,335,000 after acquiring an additional 53,424 shares during the period. Finally, Primecap Management Co. CA bought a new position in shares of Adobe during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,071,668,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.79% of the company's stock.

Adobe News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Adobe this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Expanded NVIDIA partnership supports AI growth narrative. Adobe and NVIDIA will optimize Photoshop, Premiere, Substance 3D, Frame.io and Brand Concierge to accelerate AI-powered creation, production and personalization. The collaboration strengthens Adobe’s positioning in “agentic” creative tools and may improve product performance and enterprise adoption. Adobe and NVIDIA Expand Collaboration to Speed Agentic Creation
• Positive Sentiment: Relief buying followed recent weakness. Investors may be placing greater weight on Adobe’s solid operating results, raised fiscal 2026 outlook and recent AI-related customer wins than on this week’s analyst downgrades. The company recently reported revenue growth and earnings above consensus, with full-year revenue projected at approximately $26.5 billion to $26.6 billion and non-GAAP EPS of about $24.35 to $24.45. Adobe Gains as Investors Appear to Reassess Recent Selloff
• Neutral Sentiment: Market conditions provided an additional tailwind. Adobe was among several software-as-a-service stocks that rebounded as falling Treasury yields brought buyers back after an AI-driven technology selloff. This factor may support the stock near term but is not specific to Adobe’s fundamentals. Adobe, HubSpot, Workday, Asana, and Workiva Shares Are Soaring
• Negative Sentiment: AI disruption concerns remain an overhang. HSBC downgraded Adobe from Buy to Hold, citing risks that generative AI tools and lower-cost or free alternatives could pressure Adobe’s competitive position and long-term growth. Reports highlighting free Adobe alternatives add to those concerns. HSBC Downgrades Adobe Stock Over Growing AI Software Disruption Risks
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling may temper sentiment. Reported insider activity showed no purchases and multiple sales over the past six months, including sales by CEO Shantanu Narayen. While such transactions do not necessarily indicate deteriorating fundamentals, they can reinforce investor caution.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on ADBE shares. Morgan Stanley restated an "underweight" rating on shares of Adobe in a research note on Friday, September 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Adobe from $340.00 to $315.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 11th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Adobe from a "sell (d)" rating to a "sell (d+)" rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 1st. Citizens Jmp reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of Adobe in a report on Friday, September 11th. Finally, Evercore set a $250.00 price objective on Adobe in a report on Friday, September 11th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twenty have given a Hold rating and seven have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Adobe presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $283.90.

Adobe Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:ADBE opened at $251.67 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $97.95 billion, a PE ratio of 12.86, a P/E/G ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 1.42. Adobe Inc. has a twelve month low of $190.12 and a twelve month high of $363.70. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $256.97 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $242.95.

Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, September 10th. The software company reported $6.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.08 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $6.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.69 billion. Adobe had a net margin of 28.05% and a return on equity of 65.65%. The company's revenue was up 12.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $5.31 earnings per share. Adobe has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 6.300-6.350 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 24.450-24.500 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Adobe Inc. will post 20.01 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Adobe news, CEO Shantanu Narayen sold 74,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $251.56, for a total transaction of $18,741,220.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 289,224 shares of the company's stock, valued at $72,757,189.44. The trade was a 20.48% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Jillian Forusz sold 416 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $264.33, for a total value of $109,961.28. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 3,824 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,010,797.92. This represents a 9.81% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 125,416 shares of company stock valued at $31,454,466 over the last quarter. 0.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Adobe Profile

Adobe Inc NASDAQ: ADBE is a global software company that develops tools for creating, managing, delivering and analyzing digital content. Its products serve creative professionals, marketers, enterprises, students and individual consumers across a broad range of industries and geographies.

Adobe's Creative Cloud portfolio includes applications such as Photoshop, Illustrator, Premiere Pro, InDesign and Adobe Express for graphic design, photography, video, illustration and digital content creation.

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