Essex Investment Management Co. LLC Cuts Position in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Key Points

• Essex Investment Management Co. LLC has reduced its holdings in Salesforce Inc. by 9.4%, now owning 19,940 shares valued at approximately $5.35 million.
• Insider trading reports reveal that CEO Marc Benioff sold 2,250 shares worth about $606,105, decreasing his ownership slightly to 11.91 million shares.
• Salesforce reported a quarterly EPS of $2.58, exceeding analyst estimates, with revenue of $9.83 billion, reflecting a 7.6% year-over-year growth.

Essex Investment Management Co. LLC cut its holdings in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 9.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 19,940 shares of the CRM provider's stock after selling 2,060 shares during the period. Salesforce accounts for 1.1% of Essex Investment Management Co. LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest position. Essex Investment Management Co. LLC's holdings in Salesforce were worth $5,351,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main grew its holdings in Salesforce by 926.4% in 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 worth $1,422,979,000 after acquiring an additional 3,841,521 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in Salesforce by 30,456.9% in the 1st 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. grew its holdings in Salesforce by 42.5% in the 4th 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. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in Salesforce by 18.3% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 11,224,927 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $3,752,830,000 after acquiring an additional 1,736,667 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Salesforce by 1,744.0% in the 1st quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,820,262 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $488,486,000 after acquiring an additional 1,721,550 shares during the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on CRM shares. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $400.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. Westpark Capital reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $320.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Salesforce from $425.00 to $347.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating and set a $275.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Finally, DA Davidson reaffirmed an "underperform" rating and set a $200.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, twenty-seven have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Salesforce has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $348.16.

Insider Buying and Selling at Salesforce

In other news, insider Srinivas Tallapragada sold 6,697 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.00, for a total transaction of $1,975,615.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 41,422 shares in the company, valued at $12,219,490. The trade was a 13.92% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Marc Benioff sold 2,250 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $259.67, for a total transaction of $584,257.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 11,955,566 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,104,501,823.22. This trade represents a 0.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 39,729 shares of company stock worth $10,763,881. Insiders own 3.20% of the company's stock.

Salesforce Price Performance

CRM traded down $7.76 on Friday, hitting $250.57. 5,353,094 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,085,196. Salesforce Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $230.00 and a fifty-two week 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 50-day moving average price of $266.48 and a 200-day moving average price of $282.69. The stock has a market cap of $239.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.23, a P/E/G ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 1.36.

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

Salesforce Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 10th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 18th were issued a dividend of $0.416 per share. This represents a $1.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 18th. Salesforce's payout ratio is currently 25.98%.

About Salesforce

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.