Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) Shares Sold by Stevens Capital Management LP

Key Points

• Stevens Capital Management LP reduced its stake in Salesforce by 74.6%, selling 5,470 shares, now holding 1,863 shares valued at $500,000.
• Salesforce reported an EPS of $2.58 for the last quarter, beating estimates by $0.03, with revenues of $9.83 billion, up 7.6% year-over-year.
• The stock currently has a market cap of $257.27 billion and an average target price of $348.16 among analysts, indicating a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy."

Stevens Capital Management LP reduced its position in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 74.6% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,863 shares of the CRM provider's stock after selling 5,470 shares during the quarter. Stevens Capital Management LP's holdings in Salesforce were worth $500,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Delaney Dennis R raised its stake in Salesforce by 66.1% in the 1st quarter. Delaney Dennis R now owns 5,694 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $1,528,000 after purchasing an additional 2,266 shares during the last quarter. Heartland Bank & Trust Co raised its stake in Salesforce by 117.2% in the 1st quarter. Heartland Bank & Trust Co now owns 5,981 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $1,605,000 after purchasing an additional 3,227 shares during the last quarter. Elwood Capital Partners LP acquired a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the 4th quarter worth $1,337,000. Strategic Blueprint LLC increased its stake in shares of Salesforce by 13.5% in the 1st quarter. Strategic Blueprint LLC now owns 23,828 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $6,394,000 after acquiring an additional 2,837 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Czech National Bank increased its stake in shares of Salesforce by 6.0% in the 1st quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 219,808 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $58,988,000 after acquiring an additional 12,528 shares during the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Salesforce Price Performance

CRM stock opened at $269.11 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $268.07 and a 200 day moving average price of $284.27. The stock has a market cap of $257.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.11, a PEG ratio of 2.43 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. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 28th. The CRM provider reported $2.58 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.55 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $9.83 billion for 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%. The firm's revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.44 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 10th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 18th were paid a $0.416 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 18th. This represents a $1.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.62%. Salesforce's dividend payout ratio is currently 25.98%.

Insider Activity at Salesforce

In other Salesforce news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 2,250 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $271.69, for a total value of $611,302.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 11,862,457 shares in the company, valued at $3,222,910,942.33. This represents a 0.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Srinivas Tallapragada sold 6,697 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $295.00, for a total transaction of $1,975,615.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 41,422 shares in the company, valued at $12,219,490. This represents a 13.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 33,479 shares of company stock worth $9,091,796 over the last quarter. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on CRM. Erste Group Bank downgraded Salesforce from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 5th. Cantor Fitzgerald downgraded Salesforce from an "overweight" rating to a "cautious" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a "market outperform" rating and issued a $430.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Mizuho cut their target price on Salesforce from $425.00 to $380.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. Finally, Stephens cut their target price on Salesforce from $311.00 to $309.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 30th. Three research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price 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.

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