Verus Capital Partners LLC Sells 36 Shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Verus Capital Partners LLC cut its position in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 4.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 792 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 36 shares during the quarter. Verus Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $265,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 15.0% during the 4th quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 36,473 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $12,194,000 after purchasing an additional 4,752 shares during the last quarter. Nabity Jensen Investment Management Inc bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,215,000. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 13.6% in the 3rd quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 58,036 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $15,885,000 after buying an additional 6,938 shares during the last quarter. Aljian Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 16.1% in the 3rd quarter. Aljian Capital Management LLC now owns 13,258 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $3,629,000 after buying an additional 1,834 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AIA Group Ltd grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 8.9% in the 3rd quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 24,028 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $6,577,000 after buying an additional 1,962 shares during the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Salesforce news, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 436 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $332.28, for a total transaction of $144,874.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 7,057 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,344,899.96. The trade was a 5.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Marc Benioff sold 317,105 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $346.78, for a total value of $109,965,671.90. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 12,162,457 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,217,696,838.46. This represents a 2.54 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,102,572 shares of company stock valued at $381,283,706 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Stock Performance

Shares of CRM opened at $297.63 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 1.11. Salesforce, Inc. has a one year low of $212.00 and a one year high of $369.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $284.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.95, a PEG ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.31. The business has a fifty day moving average of $329.11 and a 200 day moving average of $307.58.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, December 3rd. The CRM provider reported $2.41 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.44 by ($0.03). Salesforce had a return on equity of 12.34% and a net margin of 15.96%. The firm had revenue of $9.44 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.35 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.62 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 18th were issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 18th. Salesforce’s payout ratio is currently 25.16%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CRM has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $450.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Oppenheimer cut their price objective on Salesforce from $415.00 to $380.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Northland Securities reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $440.00 price objective (up from $400.00) on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. KeyCorp upgraded Salesforce from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $440.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, DA Davidson cut their price objective on Salesforce from $300.00 to $275.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, thirty-two have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Salesforce currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $365.32.

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.