Partners Capital Investment Group LLP Cuts Stock Holdings in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Partners Capital Investment Group LLP lowered its stake in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 53.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 15,985 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 18,154 shares during the quarter. Partners Capital Investment Group LLP’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $5,344,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Salesforce by 1.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 49,007,404 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $13,432,855,000 after purchasing an additional 864,193 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Salesforce by 1.3% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,780,318 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $5,395,132,000 after purchasing an additional 257,501 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Salesforce by 2.6% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 12,276,551 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $3,360,215,000 after purchasing an additional 314,530 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in shares of Salesforce by 1.0% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 5,964,702 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,632,599,000 after purchasing an additional 57,825 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Salesforce by 1.7% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,912,854 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,618,407,000 after purchasing an additional 96,381 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of Salesforce from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $400.00 target price (up previously from $380.00) on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $390.00 to $440.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $368.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $450.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, thirty-one have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Salesforce presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $377.63.

Salesforce Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of Salesforce stock opened at $325.49 on Monday. Salesforce, Inc. has a 12-month low of $212.00 and a 12-month high of $369.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The stock has a market cap of $311.49 billion, a PE ratio of 53.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a 50-day moving average of $336.56 and a two-hundred day moving average of $303.11.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, December 3rd. The CRM provider reported $2.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.44 by ($0.03). Salesforce had a net margin of 15.96% and a return on equity of 12.34%. The company had revenue of $9.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.35 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.62 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 18th were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 18th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.49%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.32%.

Insider Transactions at Salesforce

In other news, Director G Mason Morfit sold 722,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $346.11, for a total transaction of $249,995,253.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,192,009 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,104,786,234.99. This trade represents a 18.45 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 436 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $332.28, for a total transaction of $144,874.08. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 7,057 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,344,899.96. This trade represents a 5.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,111,420 shares of company stock valued at $384,366,700 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

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.