LPL Financial LLC Sells 42,019 Shares of Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE)

Key Points

• LPL Financial LLC sold 42,019 shares of Adobe Inc. in the 1st quarter, reducing its holdings by 9.4%, but still retains approximately 0.09% of the company, valued at $154.24 million.
• Adobe recently reported a Q2 EPS of $5.06, exceeding analysts' expectations, while its revenue increased by 10.6% year-over-year to $5.87 billion.
• Analyst ratings for Adobe show a consensus of "Moderate Buy" with an average target price of $473.88, despite recent price target downgrades from several firms.

LPL Financial LLC lowered its stake in shares of Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE - Free Report) by 9.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 402,934 shares of the software company's stock after selling 42,019 shares during the quarter. LPL Financial LLC owned about 0.09% of Adobe worth $154,241,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in Adobe by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 8,068 shares of the software company's stock worth $3,588,000 after purchasing an additional 167 shares during the period. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG grew its holdings in shares of Adobe by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 28,969 shares of the software company's stock valued at $12,882,000 after buying an additional 756 shares during the last quarter. GHE LLC grew its holdings in shares of Adobe by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. GHE LLC now owns 23,577 shares of the software company's stock valued at $10,484,000 after buying an additional 670 shares during the last quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Adobe during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,158,000. Finally, Summit Securities Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Adobe during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.79% of the company's stock.

Adobe Price Performance

ADBE stock traded down $7.56 during trading on Friday, hitting $350.13. The stock had a trading volume of 2,151,394 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,759,639. Adobe Inc. has a 1-year low of $332.01 and a 1-year high of $587.75. The company's 50 day moving average price is $386.92 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $399.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 0.99. The stock has a market cap of $148.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.51.

Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 12th. The software company reported $5.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.97 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $5.87 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.80 billion. Adobe had a net margin of 30.39% and a return on equity of 53.68%. Adobe's revenue for the quarter was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $4.48 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Adobe Inc. will post 16.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Adobe from a "moderate sell" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, June 16th. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Adobe from $424.00 to $475.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, June 13th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Adobe from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, July 26th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Adobe from $410.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, June 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company restated an "overweight" rating and set a $470.00 price objective (up previously from $430.00) on shares of Adobe in a research report on Friday, June 13th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Adobe presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $473.88.

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.