GetCoattail Research — Adobe is the market's AI-disruption argument in software form: record revenue, an AI product line growing above 150%, and a stock down 32.1% this year in our price file. We ran it through every filing lens we maintain. Ten of our 83 tracked superinvestors hold it long — and six of the ten raised their share counts in the quarter the price fell 15.7% — while the borrow against it has nearly doubled in a year.
Start with the narrative: a delivery story the market keeps discounting. Adobe reported fiscal third-quarter results on September 10, 2026, for the quarter ended August 28: record revenue of $6.76 billion, up 13% year over year, GAAP earnings per share of $4.62 and non-GAAP earnings of $6.13, ending annualized recurring revenue of $27.50 billion, operating cash flow of $2.52 billion, and an AI-first ARR line above $650 million that grew more than 150% year over year, alongside a milestone of one billion monthly active users. Management raised full-year fiscal 2026 targets to revenue of $26.576–$26.626 billion and non-GAAP EPS of $24.45–$24.50. The stock fell after the print anyway, with coverage citing the growth rate and AI competition. By October 6 the shares traded at $238.25 in coverage, 34.5% below a 52-week high of $363.70, with a Hold consensus from 33 analysts and an average target of $282.68 in MarketBeat's tally. AltIndex counted 237 Reddit mentions in the 24 hours to October 9, up 26.4%, with Bullish sentiment.
Now the filings. GetCoattail tracks the investors best placed to know any company: superinvestors, institutions, insiders, Congress, and 5% holders. For Adobe — the twenty-second Filing Tape audit — the story is a narrow, concentrated superinvestor register that added shares into a falling quarter, a full market that shed filers while adding shares, and a borrow that has grown into the decline.
Lens 1: the superinvestors — 10 holders, 97.9% of the shares in three hands
We track 83 large, mostly long-only managers whose 13F portfolios we collect directly from SEC EDGAR. As of June 30, 2026, 10 held Adobe in a long common-stock position — long rows, with no option rows in the count. Together the 10 held 6,441,495 shares worth $1,320,644,958. The quarter-to-quarter comparison, on the pipeline's CUSIP basis in both quarters, runs from 6,223,463 shares across 11 rows at March 31 to 6,441,495 shares across 10 rows at June 30 — up 3.50%, with one fewer holder holding more shares. The pipeline and EDGAR-collection totals agree exactly, in shares and in dollars. The direction count is the unusual part: zero new, six increased, three decreased, one unchanged — no manager opened a position, but six of the ten raised their share counts in a quarter when the price fell from $243.08 to $205.02 in our price file, down 15.7%.
The register is highly concentrated. The largest holder is Dodge & Cox Funds, with 3,114,932 shares worth $638,623,359, a 0.33% portfolio weight, increased 24.8% in the quarter — 48.4% of the entire cohort. The second-largest is Bill Nygren at Oakmark Funds, with 2,829,066 shares worth $580,015,087, a 0.77% weight, increased 23.3%. The third, Samantha McLemore at Patient Capital Management, holds 361,126 shares, a 2.43% weight, increased 21.5%. Those three together hold 6,305,124 shares, 97.9% of the cohort — and all three increased. The remaining seven holders combined hold just 136,371 shares. Three of them also increased (Davis Advisors, +50.4% to 67,894 shares; Hillman Capital, +6.7%; Pzena, +8.3%), three decreased (Jensen, −0.8%; Polen, −36.1%; Mairs & Power, −2.0%), and Lindsell Train held 7,000 shares unchanged.
Lens 2: institutions — 7.61% fewer filers, 17.02% more shares
Zoom out to the whole 13F market and the register churned hard in both directions. At June 30, 2026, 1,980 institutions reported positions, down from 2,143 at March 31 (−7.61%), and 1,969 reported long positions. Reported shares rose 17.02%, from 278,695,013 to 326,128,901 shares, with 1,467 filers entering and 1,630 exiting. Reported aggregate value rose 1.20% to $73,864,395,989; the aggregate includes option rows, so we headline filer and share counts and label dollars "reported" (see methodology). The implied value per share, $226.49, sits 10.5% above the June 30 close of $205.02. Fewer filers hold materially more shares.
Lens 3: the 5% register — six filings, all 13G, no activist
Six SC 13D/G filings cover Adobe — zero in the 13D family and six 13G filings, four of them amendments, from four reporting names, the most recent filed August 7, 2026, maximum reported percentage 10.1%. There is no activist register here. BlackRock reported 37,230,155 shares (9.4%) as of June 30, 2026, filed July 27, 2026. State Street Corporation reported 20,538,520 shares (5.2%) as of June 30, 2026, filed August 7, 2026. Vanguard Capital Management reported 30,765,197 shares (7.61%) as of March 31, 2026, filed April 29, 2026. The Vanguard Group reported a 0-share row as of March 13, 2026, filed March 26, 2026, after rows of 41,472,249 shares (10.1%) as of January 30, 2026 and 41,365,193 shares (9.88%) as of September 30, 2025 — the same sequence seen in several earlier audits, where a Vanguard position reappears under a related reporting name; we report rows as filed, without summing them or calling the zero an exit.
Lens 4: insiders — four purchases in the entire parsed record, against $53,140,662.87 of sales
The buy side of this register is small but not empty. Across the parsed Form 4 record (129 filings through October 2, 2026), there are four open-market purchases totalling 13,550 shares and $3,451,834.07, by two buyers — two of them officer purchases totalling $507,758.07. Against that stand 24 sales totalling 209,839 shares and $53,140,662.87, by four sellers, all 24 of them recorded as officer sales. In the most recent year (70 filings), one purchase of 10,000 shares for $1,945,130.00 stands against 20 sales totalling $50,773,008.97, by three sellers. In the 90 days through October 2, 2026, 14 filings covered zero purchases and 13 sales totalling 125,416 shares and $31,454,837.49, by two sellers — again, all 13 recorded as officer sales. Our site's insider aggregate (October 9, 2026) matches the full-parse 90-day figures exactly. Some selling is mechanical — vesting, tax withholding and pre-arranged plans — and we assign no motives.
Lens 5: Congress — one member, one purchase, four sales
Across the Senate and House record we maintain (combined record as of October 3, 2026), Adobe's register is a single name: one member, one purchase transaction and four sale transactions, the most recent purchase dated April 14, 2026, with one party represented, the Democrats. The House accounts for all of it — one member, one purchase and four sales (House record as of October 3, 2026) — while the Senate aggregate carries no Adobe record at all (Senate record as of October 1, 2026). Congressional disclosures report value ranges rather than exact amounts, so we record direction and counts only.
Lens 6: short interest — up 92.5% in a year, at 4.75% of the share count
As of September 15, 2026 — the most recent FINRA settlement date — 18,496,677 Adobe shares were sold short, with days-to-cover of 3.17, up 6.49% from the prior settlement. The level, more than the latest move, is the story: the September 15, 2025 settlement recorded 9,607,458 shares, so the borrow is up 92.5% year over year. The peak settlement, June 15, 2026, recorded 20,892,296 shares, so the latest reading is 11.5% below the peak, and the June 30 settlement recorded 19,612,201 shares. Against the 389,200,000 shares in our fundamentals file, the borrow is 4.75% of the share count.
The recent settlements run 20,264,951 on July 15, then 19,347,621, 17,970,237, 17,369,986 and 18,496,677. The series began at 4,267,417 shares on January 15, 2021, and its lowest reading is 3,753,959 shares on November 30, 2022 — the borrow rose more than fivefold from that low to the June 2026 peak.
The gap, stated plainly
The registers describe a stock accumulated by a few and borrowed against by many. The tracked superinvestors are only 10 of 83 managers — but 97.9% of their 6,441,495 shares sit with three holders, all of whom increased in a quarter when the price fell 15.7%, and the cohort added 3.50% more shares with no new entrants. The full market moved the same way at scale: filers fell 7.61% to 1,980 while reported shares rose 17.02% to 326,128,901. Insiders bought four times in the entire parsed record — $3,451,834.07 — against $53,140,662.87 of sales, all of them officer sales. Congress barely registers: one member, one purchase, four sales. And the borrow, at 18,496,677 shares and 4.75% of the share count, is up 92.5% in a year, in a stock down 32.1% year to date in our file. One plausible reading is that the registers describe a disagreement about duration — the 13F registers a small set of holders adding at June prices near $205, the borrow a larger set paying to be short the same name into a decline. The record supports each clause separately; it does not say which register is right.
What would change the picture
Nothing above is a recommendation. It is a record. These are the filings that would change the description:
- 1. The 2026Q3 13Fs (filing window closing mid-November 2026). Q3 contains the earnings print and the rebound — the price rose 15.9% from June 30 to October 2 in our file. Whether Dodge & Cox's 3,114,932 shares and Oakmark's 2,829,066 shares survived that rise, and whether any of the other 73 tracked managers finally opens a position after a zero-new quarter, is the whole lens: at 10 holders and 97.9% concentration, one filer's decision rewrites this register.
- 2. A fifth insider purchase — anywhere, at any size. Four purchases totalling $3,451,834.07 stand against 24 sales totalling $53,140,662.87 in the parsed record, with zero purchases in the most recent 90 days. A single further purchase would raise the all-time count from four to five; continued absence keeps the buy column where it has been.
- 3. The next short-interest settlements after a near-doubling. The borrow stood at 18,496,677 shares on September 15, up 92.5% from 9,607,458 a year earlier and 11.5% below the June 15 peak of 20,892,296. The next settlements show whether borrowers treat the June peak as a top or a pause: FINRA publishes every two weeks.
- 4. Congressional filings after April 14. The combined record shows one purchase and four sales by a single member of one party, the most recent purchase dated April 14, 2026, and no Senate record at all. A second member filing in either direction would double the register; continued silence leaves it at a single member.
- 5. Any 13D, from anyone. The 5% register holds six 13G filings and nothing else — passive positions from BlackRock at 9.4%, Vanguard Capital Management at 7.61% and State Street at 5.2%. A first 13D, or a new 13G filer above 5%, would create a register that does not currently exist.
Until one of those prints, the record describes a stock held by just 10 of our 83 tracked superinvestors — 6,441,495 shares, 97.9% of them with three holders who all raised their stakes as the price fell 15.7% — whose insiders have bought four times for $3,451,834.07 against $53,140,662.87 of sales, and whose borrow, at 18,496,677 shares, has risen 92.5% in a year.
Related reading: Thirty-Seven of 83: The Superinvestors Own Microsoft. Its Insiders Have Bought Twice. — Filing Tape #21; One of 83: The Superinvestors Hold Just 5,380 AST SpaceMobile Shares. Short Interest Just Hit a Record. — Filing Tape #20; Zero of 83: The Superinvestors Aren't in IREN — Filing Tape #1. Adobe's own page: Adobe (ADBE) on GetCoattail.
Methodology and data notes
- Superinvestor lens: 83 managers collected directly from SEC EDGAR Form 13F (managers_13f collection), positions as of June 30, 2026; Adobe identified by CUSIP 00724F101. Ten distinct managers hold a long position totalling 6,441,495 shares; all 10 reported rows are long (no put or call rows). Quarter-to-quarter cohort totals (6,223,463 shares across 11 pipeline rows at March 31; 6,441,495 across 10 pipeline rows at June 30) are from the site pipeline's holdings files on the same CUSIP basis in both quarters; the change is +3.50% ((6,441,495 / 6,223,463) − 1), and the pipeline's second-quarter totals agree exactly with the EDGAR collection's long totals (difference: 0 shares and $0). The largest holder's share of the cohort is 3,114,932 / 6,441,495 = 48.4%; the top three holders' share is 6,305,124 / 6,441,495 = 97.9%. Direction counts across the 10 long holders: 0 new, 6 increased, 3 decreased, 1 unchanged. No series-record claim is made for the 97.9% figure: a full-collection recomputation across the 21 earlier audits shows higher top-three shares in several smaller cohorts (for example, Apple at 98.9% across 22 holders), so the figure is reported as a plain concentration fact for this cohort.
- Full-market lens: SEC Form 13F Data Sets full-market aggregation (the fixtures underlying our 2026Q1–Q2 market tables). Holders = distinct filers reporting the CUSIP; 1,969 of the 1,980 reported long positions. Reported-value caution: the aggregate value ($73,864,395,989 over 326,128,901 shares) implies ≈$226.49 per share against a June 30, 2026 close of $205.02 in our price file, a gap of 10.5%. The aggregate sums the VALUE of every information-table row — including put and call option rows — while the share count covers long common-stock rows only, so we headline filer and share counts and label dollar values "reported."
- Insider lens: full-parse Form 4 aggregation (agg_by_ticker), record as of October 2, 2026 (129 filings). Sale and purchase counts are transaction-code counts (S and P) in non-derivative rows; grants and exercises are not counted as purchases, and one filing can contain many transaction rows. Purchase transactions total four across the full record (13,550 shares, $3,451,834.07, two buyers), of which two are recorded as officer purchases ($507,758.07). Sale transactions total 24 across the full record (209,839 shares, $53,140,662.87, four sellers), all 24 recorded as officer sales. In the most recent year: one purchase, $1,945,130.00, one buyer; 20 sale transactions, $50,773,008.97, three sellers. In the 90 days through October 2, 2026: zero purchases; 13 sale transactions, 125,416 shares, $31,454,837.49, two sellers. The site's insider aggregate (compiled as of October 9, 2026) matches the full-parse 90-day figures exactly.
- 13D/G lens: full-parse SC 13D/G aggregation and parsed filings (6 filings matching CUSIP 00724F101, 4 reporting names), filings through August 7, 2026. BlackRock's row (37,230,155 shares at 9.4% as of June 30, 2026), State Street's row (20,538,520 shares at 5.2% as of June 30, 2026), Vanguard Capital Management's row (30,765,197 shares at 7.61% as of March 31, 2026) and The Vanguard Group's rows (0 shares as of March 13, 2026; 41,472,249 shares at 10.1% as of January 30, 2026; 41,365,193 shares at 9.88% as of September 30, 2025) are reported as separate rows, as filed; they are not summed. The aggregation's totalSharesReported field sums overlapping reporters and successive amendments and is not used. Percentages are quoted exactly as reported in the respective filings.
- Congress lens: Senate PTR archive and House PTR archive as maintained on this site, combined record as of October 3, 2026 (1 member, 1 purchase transaction, 4 sale transactions, most recent purchase April 14, 2026, one party — Democrats). The House aggregate (as of October 3, 2026) records 1 member, 1 purchase and 4 sales; the Senate aggregate (as of October 1, 2026) carries no Adobe record. Congressional disclosures report value ranges, so this lens records direction and counts only.
- Short interest lens: FINRA Equity Short Interest files (biweekly settlement dates), collected directly from FINRA's public distribution; the Adobe series covers 137 settlements from January 15, 2021 to September 15, 2026. The maximum of the full collected series is 20,892,296 shares on June 15, 2026, so the latest reading of 18,496,677 shares on September 15, 2026 sits 11.5% below the peak ((18,496,677 / 20,892,296) − 1) and 92.5% above the September 15, 2025 reading of 9,607,458. FINRA publishes each settlement about two weeks after the fact. The share-count ratio uses the fundamentals file's share count of 389,200,000 — a period-end outstanding count (dei EntityCommonStockSharesOutstanding) as of September 18, 2026.
- Fundamentals note: our fundamentals collection carries Adobe's fiscal-2025 revenue of $23,769,000,000, fiscal-2025 net income of $7,130,000,000 and fiscal-2025 assets of $29,496,000,000. The market value of about $92.7 billion uses that file's October 6, 2026 price ($238.12) and reported share count.
- Prices: our own daily-close file for Adobe through October 2, 2026 ($237.69 close, −32.1% year to date on that file; 252-session closing high $359.91 on October 28, 2025; 252-session closing low $193.41 on June 25, 2026; closes of $243.08 at March 31, 2026 and $205.02 at June 30, 2026, a second-quarter change of −15.7%; change from June 30 to October 2 of +15.9% ((237.69 / 205.02) − 1)). The drawdown from the 252-session closing high is −34.0% ((237.69 / 359.91) − 1), and the gain from the 252-session closing low is +22.9%.
- Market context sources: fiscal third-quarter revenue of $6.76 billion (up 13%), GAAP EPS of $4.62, non-GAAP EPS of $6.13, ending ARR of $27.50 billion, operating cash flow of $2.52 billion, AI-first ARR above $650 million (up more than 150%) and one billion monthly active users — earnings coverage of the September 10, 2026 report, checked October 10, 2026, summarised in our own words; raised fiscal 2026 targets (revenue $26.576–$26.626 billion, non-GAAP EPS $24.45–$24.50) and a fourth-quarter revenue target of $6.80–$6.85 billion — the same coverage; an October 6, 2026 price of $238.25, 34.5% below a 52-week high of $363.70 (an intraday range figure from coverage, distinct from our closing-price file), a Hold consensus from 33 analysts with an average target of $282.68, a DA Davidson Buy with a $290 target, a JPMorgan target cut to $315 and a Jefferies target cut to $275 — analyst coverage, checked October 10, 2026; social-media attention ranking (237 Reddit mentions in 24 hours, up 26.4%, Bullish sentiment, price shown $242) — AltIndex, checked October 10, 2026. Figures we could not confirm against two sources were left out.
- Adobe is in the GetCoattail stock-page universe: Adobe (ADBE) stock page. Series data: adbe_lens_data.csv · adbe_short_interest_series.csv. Earlier audits: Microsoft · AST SpaceMobile · IREN.
This article describes public filings as of the dates stated. It is not investment advice and makes no recommendation. Filings lag reality: 13F positions are as of June 30, 2026, and later trading is not yet public.
Revision history
- v1.0 — October 10, 2026: first publication.