Los Angeles Capital Management LLC Sells 317,906 Shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Los Angeles Capital Management LLC decreased its stake in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 46.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 359,935 shares of the CRM provider's stock after selling 317,906 shares during the period. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC's holdings in Salesforce were worth $96,592,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC increased its holdings in Salesforce by 13.7% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 25,668 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $8,582,000 after acquiring an additional 3,102 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC increased its holdings in Salesforce by 12.6% during the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,827 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $611,000 after acquiring an additional 205 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in Salesforce by 70.4% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,791 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $933,000 after acquiring an additional 1,153 shares in the last quarter. Magnetar Financial LLC purchased a new position in Salesforce during the 4th quarter valued at about $636,000. Finally, Blueshift Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Salesforce during the 4th quarter valued at about $273,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company's stock.

Salesforce Stock Performance

Shares of Salesforce stock traded up $2.52 during trading on Friday, hitting $262.40. 6,376,432 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,563,887. The stock's fifty day moving average is $270.45 and its 200 day moving average is $286.17. The stock has a market cap of $250.85 billion, a PE ratio of 41.06, a P/E/G ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 1.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.07. Salesforce Inc. has a 12 month low of $230.00 and a 12 month 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 analysts' consensus estimates of $2.55 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $9.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.74 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 16.08% and a return on equity of 12.94%. Salesforce's revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.44 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 10th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 18th were issued a $0.416 dividend. This represents a $1.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 18th. Salesforce's payout ratio is 25.98%.

Insider Activity

In other Salesforce news, insider Miguel Milano sold 405 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $262.35, for a total transaction of $106,251.75. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 9,933 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,605,922.55. This represents a 3.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Marc Benioff sold 2,250 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $257.02, for a total transaction of $578,295.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 11,911,571 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,061,511,978.42. This trade represents a 0.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 33,819 shares of company stock valued at $9,111,823 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 3.20% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CRM has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $255.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. UBS Group set a $404.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $340.00 to $385.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Salesforce from $315.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price on shares of Salesforce from $243.00 to $255.00 and gave the company an "underperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 29th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, twenty-seven have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $348.16.

Salesforce Profile

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.