Sabal Trust CO lifted its holdings in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 411.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,014 shares of the CRM provider's stock after acquiring an additional 4,838 shares during the period. Sabal Trust CO's holdings in Salesforce were worth $1,614,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in CRM. Western Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Salesforce by 6.5% during the first quarter. Western Wealth Management LLC now owns 12,050 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $3,234,000 after buying an additional 736 shares during the last quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV boosted its stake in Salesforce by 37.2% during the first quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 1,961 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $526,000 after buying an additional 532 shares during the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. boosted its stake in Salesforce by 61.1% during the first quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 1,476,593 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $396,258,000 after buying an additional 559,880 shares during the last quarter. Pure Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Salesforce by 33.9% during the first quarter. Pure Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,833 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $492,000 after buying an additional 464 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wealth Effects LLC boosted its stake in Salesforce by 13.4% during the first quarter. Wealth Effects LLC now owns 1,055 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $283,000 after buying an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.43% of the company's stock.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
A number of brokerages recently commented on CRM. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on Salesforce from $430.00 to $400.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price target on Salesforce from $243.00 to $255.00 and gave the company an "underperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. Westpark Capital reissued a "buy" rating and set a $320.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. Royal Bank Of Canada downgraded Salesforce from an "outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $420.00 to $275.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. Finally, Guggenheim upgraded Salesforce from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $349.08.
Read Our Latest Research Report on Salesforce
Salesforce Stock Up 0.7%
NYSE CRM traded up $1.98 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $272.72. 21,736,713 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,553,599. 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 company has a market cap of $260.72 billion, a PE ratio of 42.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.38. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $270.38 and its 200-day simple moving average is $294.66. Salesforce Inc. has a 52 week low of $230.00 and a 52 week high of $369.00.
Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last announced its 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 analysts' expectations of $9.74 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 12.94% and a net margin of 16.08%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.44 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current year.
Salesforce Cuts Dividend
The firm 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 18th. This represents a $1.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.61%. Salesforce's payout ratio is 25.98%.
Insider Transactions at Salesforce
In related news, insider Srinivas Tallapragada sold 6,697 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.00, for a total value of $1,975,615.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 41,422 shares in the company, valued at $12,219,490. This trade represents a 13.92% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider R David Schmaier sold 6,959 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $253.31, for a total value of $1,762,784.29. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 36,090 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,141,957.90. This trade represents a 16.17% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 26,284 shares of company stock valued at $6,996,762 in the last quarter. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.
About Salesforce
(
Free Report)
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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