Waldron Private Wealth LLC Reduces Stock Position in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Waldron Private Wealth LLC lowered its stake in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 6.6% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 7,257 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 515 shares during the period. Waldron Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $2,426,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL bought a new position in Salesforce in the 2nd quarter valued at $33,000. Anchor Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Salesforce by 5.5% in the second quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 3,709 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $954,000 after buying an additional 195 shares in the last quarter. Abacus Planning Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 28.6% during the third quarter. Abacus Planning Group Inc. now owns 1,044 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $286,000 after purchasing an additional 232 shares in the last quarter. Czech National Bank increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 6.7% in the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 197,395 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $54,029,000 after purchasing an additional 12,314 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Unique Wealth LLC raised its stake in Salesforce by 12.9% in the third quarter. Unique Wealth LLC now owns 6,972 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,908,000 after purchasing an additional 798 shares in the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Salesforce

In other Salesforce news, insider Parker Harris sold 3,970 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $296.74, for a total transaction of $1,178,057.80. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 119,402 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $35,431,349.48. This trade represents a 3.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 436 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 7,057 shares in the company, valued at $2,344,899.96. This trade represents a 5.82 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,108,669 shares of company stock valued at $383,286,905 over the last 90 days. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on CRM shares. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $450.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. KeyCorp raised Salesforce from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $440.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Salesforce from $300.00 to $420.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Salesforce from $415.00 to $425.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Salesforce from $385.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, thirty-one have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $377.63.

Salesforce Trading Down 0.5 %

Salesforce stock opened at $341.80 on Friday. Salesforce, Inc. has a one year low of $212.00 and a one year high of $369.00. The business’s fifty day moving average is $338.68 and its 200 day moving average is $296.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $327.10 billion, a PE ratio of 56.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 1.30. 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 (NYSE:CRM) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, December 3rd. The CRM provider reported $2.41 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.44 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $9.44 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.35 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 12.34% and a net margin of 15.96%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.62 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.48 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 18th were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 18th. Salesforce’s payout ratio is 26.32%.

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.