Meritage Portfolio Management Sells 18,691 Shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Meritage Portfolio Management decreased its position in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 90.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,918 shares of the CRM provider's stock after selling 18,691 shares during the quarter. Meritage Portfolio Management's holdings in Salesforce were worth $515,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of CRM. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Salesforce by 7.1% in the first quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC now owns 8,528 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $2,289,000 after acquiring an additional 569 shares during the last quarter. Revisor Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Salesforce during the 1st quarter valued at about $6,682,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC boosted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 35.6% in the 1st quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 827 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $222,000 after purchasing an additional 217 shares during the last quarter. Novem Group grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 4.7% during the 1st quarter. Novem Group now owns 1,117 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $300,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the period. Finally, Private Trust Co. NA raised its stake in shares of Salesforce by 8.8% during the first quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 9,344 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $2,508,000 after buying an additional 756 shares during the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Salesforce

In other Salesforce news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 2,250 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $272.48, for a total transaction of $613,080.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 11,862,457 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,232,282,283.36. The trade was a 0.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Parker Harris sold 1,142 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction on Monday, June 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $262.35, for a total value of $299,603.70. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 136,824 shares of the company's stock, valued at $35,895,776.40. This represents a 0.83% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 28,534 shares of company stock worth $7,609,842 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 3.20% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CRM has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $315.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Salesforce from $255.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on Salesforce from $425.00 to $375.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 31st. Erste Group Bank lowered Salesforce from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 5th. Finally, Stephens decreased their target price on Salesforce from $311.00 to $309.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Salesforce presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $349.08.

Salesforce Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CRM opened at $271.58 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 1.07. The business has a 50-day moving average of $272.21 and a 200-day moving average of $292.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $259.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.50, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.36. Salesforce Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $230.00 and a fifty-two week high of $369.00.

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 for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.55 by $0.03. Salesforce had a return on equity of 12.94% and a net margin of 16.08%. The firm had revenue of $9.83 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.74 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.44 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 10th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 18th will be given a $0.416 dividend. This represents a $1.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.61%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 18th. Salesforce's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.

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