Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) Shares Sold by D.A. Davidson & CO.

D.A. Davidson & CO. reduced its position in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 21.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 48,566 shares of the CRM provider's stock after selling 13,473 shares during the period. D.A. Davidson & CO.'s holdings in Salesforce were worth $13,033,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. acquired a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Accredited Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Wood Tarver Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce during the fourth quarter worth about $35,000. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the 4th quarter valued at about $45,000. Finally, Graney & King LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $54,000. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 2,250 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $272.48, for a total transaction of $613,080.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 11,862,457 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,232,282,283.36. The trade was a 0.02% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Parker Harris sold 1,142 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, June 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $262.35, for a total transaction of $299,603.70. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 136,824 shares in the company, valued at approximately $35,895,776.40. The trade was a 0.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 28,534 shares of company stock valued at $7,609,842. 3.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Salesforce Trading Up 0.9%

CRM traded up $2.37 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $271.58. The company's stock had a trading volume of 5,031,804 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,543,873. Salesforce Inc. has a 52-week low of $230.00 and a 52-week high of $369.00. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $272.21 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $292.32. 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 $259.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.50, a PEG ratio of 2.44 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 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 quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.44 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 10th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.416 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 18th. This represents a $1.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.61%. Salesforce's payout ratio is 25.98%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on CRM. DA Davidson restated an "underperform" rating and issued a $200.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. 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 research note on Thursday, May 29th. Guggenheim raised shares of Salesforce from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, April 21st. Scotiabank cut their price target on shares of Salesforce from $400.00 to $345.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Mizuho reduced 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. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $349.08.

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.