August 17, 2023 – Bank of America has recently upgraded Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) to a “buy” rating in a research report provided to clients and investors. This move follows an increase in the target price for the software company’s stock from $575.00 to $630.00. According to Bank of America, this new price objective suggests a potential upside of 22.45% from the current price.
As of Thursday’s opening, ADBE started at $514.49. The market capitalization for the stock stands at $234.50 billion with a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.09 and a beta of 1.34. The firm also boasts a healthy quick ratio and current ratio, standing at 1.16 each, along with a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24.
Adobe’s stock performance has been impressive, with a twelve month low of $274.73 and a twelve month high of $552.94. Furthermore, its fifty-day moving average price amounts to $503.34, while the two-hundred-day moving average price is reported as $415.47.
Various large investors have recently made modifications to their holdings in Adobe stocks as well.Hartford Financial Management Inc., for example, increased their shares by 0.4% during the second quarter, resulting in 4,471 shares valued at around $2,186,000 after their purchase of an additional 20 shares within that period.
Capital Planning Advisors LLC also exhibited growth in their stake – by around 0.3%. As such they own roughly around up-and-coming seven thousand nine hundred fifty-four shares worth approximately three million eight hundred eighty-nine thousand dollars since last quarter after buying an additional twenty shares during that time.
Weil Company Inc., on the other hand saw an increase in Adobe stocks by about 2.four percentand now owns around eight hundred forty-two shares valued at roughly four hundred twelve thousand dollars after purchasing twenty more shares in that same quarter.
Moreover, Financial Management Professionals Inc. witnessed a jump by about 25% and now possess around one hundred five shares worth approximately fifty-one thousand dollars due to their acquisition of an additional 21 shares.
Lastly, Sage Capital Advisors llc experienced a slight uptick of 0.4%, concluding with approximately five thousand five hundred ninety-nine shares worth around two million seven hundred thirty-eight thousand dollars following their purchase of an extra twenty-one shares during the second quarter.
In terms of financial performance, Adobe reported earnings results on Thursday, June 15th where they announced $3.91 EPS for the quarter. This figure exceeded analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.79 by $0.12.
During the same period, Adobe achieved a revenue of $4.82 billion compared to the original projected estimate of $4.77 billion. This demonstrates a remarkable increase in revenue at 9.8% year-over-year, indicating strong financial performance.
Additionally, Adobe managed to maintain a net margin of 26.34% and a return on equity of 36.84%.
Analysts predict that Adobe will post an impressive earnings per share (EPS) figure of 12.56 for this year.
Overall, with Bank of America’s recent upgrade and increased target price for Adobe stocks, as well as the positive quarterly earnings results, it appears that Adobe is set for continued success in the foreseeable future.
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Analysts Remain Bullish on Adobe Despite Insider Sales
A series of analysts have recently weighed in on Adobe, an American multinational computer software company. Mizuho increased their price target from $450.00 to $520.00, while Evercore ISI raised theirs from $425.00 to $475.00. BMO Capital Markets upgraded Adobe’s rating from “market perform” to “outperform” and raised their price target for the company from $500.00 to $570.00. In addition, TheStreet improved Adobe’s rating from “c+” to “b-“. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Adobe shares from $480.00 to $550.00.
These changes in ratings and price objectives have led to a widespread consensus among twelve equities research analysts who have given a hold rating, while a total of seventeen analysts determined that the stock is a buy. Based on data obtained from Bloomberg.com, the current average target price for Adobe is $520.26, with an overall consensus rating of “Moderate Buy”.
Furthermore, there has been news concerning the sale of Adobe stocks by CEO Shantanu Narayen. On June 22nd, Narayen sold 35,000 shares at an average price of $478.03 per share, amounting to a total transaction value of $16,731,050. Following this sale, Narayen now owns 403,352 shares in the company with an estimated value of approximately $192,814,356.
This transaction was disclosed in a filing submitted to the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) and can be accessed through the designated link provided by Adobe.
In addition to the CEO’s sale activity, another insider transaction took place involving EVP Dana Rao who sold 2,600 shares on June 23rd at an average price of $480.21 per share – resulting in a total transaction worth of $1,248,546.
As further disclosed in the SEC filing, following this sale, Rao owns 17,466 shares in Adobe valued at around $8,387,347.
The recent insider transactions indicate that a total of 43,089 shares of Adobe stock have been sold by company insiders within the last ninety days. The total value of these sales amounts to $20,720,115, representing approximately 0.24% of the company’s outstanding stocks owned by insiders.
This particular information regarding insider activity was obtained from reliable sources and is publicly available for review.
To conclude, while Adobe continues to receive positive assessments from equities research analysts who have raised their price targets and ratings for the company, certain key insiders have been actively selling their shares. As always, investors are advised to conduct thorough research and consider all available information before making any investment decisions related to Adobe or any other company.