Sand Hill Global Advisors LLC Sells 9,303 Shares of Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Key Points

• Sand Hill Global Advisors LLC reduced its stake in Salesforce Inc. by 23.9%, selling 9,303 shares, and now holds a total of 29,701 shares valued at approximately $7.97 million.
• Several institutional investors, including Vanguard and Northern Trust, have recently increased their holdings in Salesforce, with institutional ownership now totaling 80.43% of the company's stock.
• Salesforce reported a quarterly EPS of $2.58, exceeding analysts' expectations, while also declaring a quarterly dividend of $0.416 per share, yielding 0.7% annually.

Sand Hill Global Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 23.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 29,701 shares of the CRM provider's stock after selling 9,303 shares during the quarter. Sand Hill Global Advisors LLC's holdings in Salesforce were worth $7,971,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Salesforce by 1.6% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 87,913,628 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $23,592,501,000 after acquiring an additional 1,383,942 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in Salesforce by 18.3% in 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 purchasing an additional 1,736,667 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its stake in Salesforce by 5.1% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 9,014,148 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $2,419,037,000 after purchasing an additional 437,435 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in Salesforce by 23.2% in 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 purchasing an additional 1,683,233 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its stake in Salesforce by 7.5% in 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 purchasing an additional 602,445 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.43% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on CRM. Mizuho dropped their price target on Salesforce from $425.00 to $380.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. DA Davidson raised Salesforce from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $225.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Salesforce from $315.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. Stephens lowered 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. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a "sector perform" rating and set a $275.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $347.50.

Salesforce Stock Up 4.0%

Shares of NYSE CRM opened at $242.78 on Monday. Salesforce Inc. has a 52 week low of $226.48 and a 52 week high of $369.00. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $260.41 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $274.82. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The company has a market cap of $232.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.99, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.37.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last issued 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. The firm had revenue of $9.83 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.74 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 12.94% and a net margin of 16.08%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.44 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 10th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 18th were given a dividend of $0.416 per share. This represents a $1.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 18th. Salesforce's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.98%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 2,250 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $234.64, for a total transaction of $527,940.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 11,911,571 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,794,931,019.44. This trade represents a 0.02% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 46,532 shares of company stock worth $12,082,694. Company insiders own 3.00% of the company's stock.

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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