Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. Sells 4,933 Shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. trimmed its holdings in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 13.3% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 32,287 shares of the CRM provider's stock after selling 4,933 shares during the quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD.'s holdings in Salesforce were worth $8,665,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Salesforce by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,955,353 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $6,656,078,000 after buying an additional 175,035 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in Salesforce by 18.3% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 11,224,927 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $3,752,830,000 after buying an additional 1,736,667 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Salesforce during the fourth quarter valued at about $3,599,867,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in Salesforce by 23.2% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,938,536 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $2,988,422,000 after buying an additional 1,683,233 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its stake in Salesforce by 7.5% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 8,658,132 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $2,894,673,000 after buying an additional 602,445 shares in the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CRM has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $255.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. Cantor Fitzgerald lowered shares of Salesforce from an "overweight" rating to a "cautious" rating in a research note on Thursday. Erste Group Bank lowered shares of Salesforce from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 5th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price target on shares of Salesforce from $243.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock an "underperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada lowered shares of Salesforce from an "outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $420.00 to $275.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, twenty-seven have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $348.16.

Insider Transactions at Salesforce

In related news, 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 directly owned 36,090 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,141,957.90. This trade represents a 16.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Marc Benioff sold 2,250 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $272.48, for a total value 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 approximately $3,232,282,283.36. This trade represents a 0.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 35,284 shares of company stock valued at $9,444,537 in the last ninety days. 3.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Salesforce Stock Performance

Shares of Salesforce stock traded down $5.74 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $258.23. The company had a trading volume of 7,004,264 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,540,561. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $272.09 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $289.24. The stock has a market cap of $246.87 billion, a PE ratio of 40.41, a P/E/G ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 1.07. Salesforce Inc. has a 1-year low of $230.00 and a 1-year high of $369.00.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 28th. The CRM provider reported $2.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.55 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $9.83 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.74 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 16.08% and a return on equity of 12.94%. Salesforce's quarterly revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.44 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 10th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 18th were given a $0.416 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 18th. This represents a $1.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.64%. Salesforce's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.