Adobe Inc. $ADBE Shares Acquired by Willis Investment Counsel

Willis Investment Counsel increased its stake in shares of Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) by 10.7% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 114,918 shares of the software company’s stock after buying an additional 11,116 shares during the quarter. Adobe makes up approximately 1.2% of Willis Investment Counsel’s holdings, making the stock its 25th biggest holding. Willis Investment Counsel’s holdings in Adobe were worth $27,573,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Net Worth Advisory Group grew its holdings in shares of Adobe by 59.8% during the third quarter. Net Worth Advisory Group now owns 2,028 shares of the software company’s stock worth $489,000 after buying an additional 759 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Adobe by 0.6% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 56,450 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $13,545,000 after buying an additional 361 shares during the period. Midway Capital Research & Management lifted its stake in shares of Adobe by 2.6% during the third quarter. Midway Capital Research & Management now owns 5,178 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $1,242,000 after buying an additional 133 shares during the period. CWA Asset Management Group LLC boosted its position in Adobe by 10.9% during the third quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 18,909 shares of the software company’s stock worth $4,537,000 after acquiring an additional 1,865 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ridgecrest Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Adobe during the third quarter worth approximately $213,000. 81.79% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Trending Headlines about Adobe

Here are the key news stories impacting Adobe this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Adobe gained alongside ServiceNow after Salesforce announced its $5.66 billion acquisition of Braze. The deal highlighted the strategic importance of customer-engagement and marketing software, while also raising concerns about Salesforce’s spending, making Adobe and other established software companies appear relatively attractive. Salesforce Retreats on Braze Deal
• Positive Sentiment: Some analysts argue Adobe has been oversold on AI fears. The company continues to beat earnings estimates and raise guidance, while its deeply embedded creative and marketing tools may be difficult for customers to replace with newer AI products. Has Adobe Stock Fallen Too Far on AI Fears?
• Positive Sentiment: Adobe was included among software companies viewed as resilient during the recent AI-related sell-off. The thesis is that sticky enterprise workflows and Adobe’s ability to incorporate AI into its products could support a recovery if software spending improves after the midterm elections. Stocks With Sticky Demand
• Neutral Sentiment: Adobe is attracting unusually high investor attention, putting its earnings performance, valuation, AI strategy and depressed share price under increased scrutiny. Adobe Attracting Investor Attention
• Negative Sentiment: Wells Fargo downgraded Adobe to Underweight from Overweight, signaling that the firm sees greater downside or weaker near-term upside potential. Wells Fargo Downgrades Adobe
• Negative Sentiment: Broader AI commentary continues to identify Adobe as one of the enterprise-software companies facing structural questions, including whether generative AI could reduce demand for traditional creative tools or increase competitive pressure. An open-source, AI-focused Adobe alternative also reinforces that concern. Open-Source AI Adobe Alternative

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Shantanu Narayen sold 74,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 289,224 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $72,757,189.44. This represents a 20.48% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Jillian Forusz sold 416 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $264.33, for a total transaction of $109,961.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 3,824 shares in the company, valued at $1,010,797.92. The trade was a 9.81% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders sold 125,416 shares of company stock worth $31,454,466. 0.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ADBE has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Oppenheimer reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Adobe in a research note on Tuesday, September 8th. Wall Street Zen lowered Adobe from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Adobe from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, September 14th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Adobe from $230.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 11th. Finally, CLSA assumed coverage on Adobe in a research report on Monday, July 20th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $300.00 price objective for the company. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twenty have issued a Hold rating and seven have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $283.90.

Adobe Trading Up 3.2%

Shares of ADBE traded up $7.87 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $254.96. The company had a trading volume of 2,272,637 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,679,811. Adobe Inc. has a 1-year low of $190.12 and a 1-year high of $363.70. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $256.05 and its 200-day simple moving average is $243.01. The stock has a market cap of $99.23 billion, a PE ratio of 14.24, a P/E/G ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41.

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

About Adobe

Adobe Inc is a global software company that develops digital tools for creative professionals, businesses, marketers, and individual users. Its products help customers create, edit, publish, manage, and measure digital content across websites, mobile applications, documents, and other media.

The company’s Creative Cloud portfolio includes applications such as Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Premiere Pro, and Acrobat. Adobe also offers Document Cloud, which provides tools for creating, editing, sharing, signing, and managing digital documents, and Experience Cloud, a suite of solutions for digital marketing, analytics, commerce, customer journeys, and content management.