Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) Position Lowered by Brown Advisory Inc.

Brown Advisory Inc. lowered its position in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 1.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 143,348 shares of the CRM provider's stock after selling 2,472 shares during the period. Brown Advisory Inc.'s holdings in Salesforce were worth $38,469,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of CRM. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce during the 4th quarter worth $3,599,867,000. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main increased its holdings in Salesforce by 926.4% during the 4th quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 4,256,211 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $1,422,979,000 after acquiring an additional 3,841,521 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in Salesforce by 30,456.9% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,801,588 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $1,020,194,000 after acquiring an additional 3,789,147 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in Salesforce by 42.5% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 7,791,015 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $2,604,770,000 after acquiring an additional 2,325,156 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 18.3% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 11,224,927 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $3,752,830,000 after purchasing an additional 1,736,667 shares in the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Salesforce Trading Down 2.2%

CRM traded down $5.74 during trading on Friday, hitting $258.23. 7,004,264 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,540,561. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $272.09 and a 200 day moving average price of $289.24. Salesforce Inc. has a 1 year low of $230.00 and a 1 year high of $369.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The firm has a market cap of $246.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.36.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 28th. The CRM provider reported $2.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.55 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $9.83 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.74 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 12.94% and a net margin of 16.08%. The company's revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.44 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 10th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 18th were paid a dividend of $0.416 per share. This represents a $1.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 18th. Salesforce's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.98%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CRM has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Macquarie reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $320.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on Salesforce from $350.00 to $335.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Royal Bank Of Canada cut Salesforce from an "outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating and cut their price target for the stock from $420.00 to $275.00 in a report on Thursday, May 29th. UBS Group set a $404.00 price objective on Salesforce and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. Finally, Erste Group Bank cut Salesforce from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 5th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, twenty-seven have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $348.16.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider R David Schmaier sold 6,959 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $253.31, for a total transaction of $1,762,784.29. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 36,090 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,141,957.90. The trade was a 16.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 1,525 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $253.66, for a total value of $386,831.50. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 12,211 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,097,442.26. This trade represents a 11.10% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 35,284 shares of company stock worth $9,444,537. 3.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Salesforce Company Profile

Salesforce, Inc provides Customer Relationship Management (CRM) technology that brings companies and customers together worldwide. The company's service includes sales to store data, monitor leads and progress, forecast opportunities, gain insights through analytics and artificial intelligence, and deliver quotes, contracts, and invoices; and service that enables companies to deliver trusted and highly personalized customer support at scale.