Greenleaf Trust Acquires 1,327 Shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Greenleaf Trust lifted its holdings in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 1.4% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 98,696 shares of the CRM provider's stock after acquiring an additional 1,327 shares during the period. Salesforce makes up approximately 0.2% of Greenleaf Trust's investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest holding. Greenleaf Trust's holdings in Salesforce were worth $26,486,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. acquired a new position in Salesforce in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Accredited Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Abound Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce during the 1st quarter worth approximately $31,000. Wood Tarver Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce during the 4th quarter worth approximately $35,000. Finally, VSM Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce during the 4th quarter worth approximately $45,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on CRM. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Salesforce from $255.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. Mizuho dropped their target price on Salesforce from $425.00 to $380.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 15th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on Salesforce from $350.00 to $335.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Barclays dropped their target price on Salesforce from $425.00 to $347.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 29th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a "buy" rating and issued a $400.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. Three investment 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $348.16.

Salesforce Trading Down 2.2%

Salesforce stock traded down $5.74 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $258.23. 7,004,264 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,535,772. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. Salesforce Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $230.00 and a fifty-two week high of $369.00. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $272.43 and its 200 day simple moving average is $289.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $246.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.41, a PEG ratio of 2.46 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 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.55 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $9.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.74 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 12.94% and a net margin of 16.08%. The business's revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.44 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Cuts Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 2,250 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $272.48, for a total value of $613,080.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 11,862,457 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,232,282,283.36. This trade represents a 0.02% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 1,525 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $253.66, for a total transaction of $386,831.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 12,211 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,097,442.26. This trade represents a 11.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 35,284 shares of company stock valued at $9,444,537. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.