Moody National Bank Trust Division Cuts Stake in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Moody National Bank Trust Division lessened its stake in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 1.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 10,191 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 166 shares during the period. Moody National Bank Trust Division’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $3,407,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Cadent Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Salesforce during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $82,000. Agate Pass Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 44.3% in the fourth quarter. Agate Pass Investment Management LLC now owns 7,221 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,414,000 after purchasing an additional 2,217 shares in the last quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. bought a new stake in Salesforce in the fourth quarter worth $111,860,000. Compton Wealth Advisory Group LLC raised its stake in Salesforce by 6.2% during the fourth quarter. Compton Wealth Advisory Group LLC now owns 8,167 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,730,000 after purchasing an additional 475 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kieckhefer Group LLC bought a new position in Salesforce during the fourth quarter valued at $60,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 413 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $285.29, for a total value of $117,824.77. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 7,006 shares in the company, valued at $1,998,741.74. The trade was a 5.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Amy E. Weaver sold 897 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $285.29, for a total value of $255,905.13. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 52,930 shares in the company, valued at $15,100,399.70. This trade represents a 1.67 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 1,181,817 shares of company stock valued at $404,760,429. Company insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Bank of America raised their price objective on Salesforce from $390.00 to $440.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Salesforce from $390.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Salesforce from $340.00 to $430.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Erste Group Bank upgraded Salesforce from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Salesforce from $275.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, thirty have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Salesforce has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $376.05.

Salesforce Stock Performance

Salesforce stock traded up $0.23 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $318.08. 1,991,374 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,505,979. The company has a market capitalization of $304.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.21 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, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $212.00 and a fifty-two week high of $369.00. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $335.82 and its two-hundred day moving average is $289.73.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last released 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). Salesforce had a return on equity of 12.34% and a net margin of 15.96%. The firm had revenue of $9.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.35 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.62 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 18th were issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 18th. Salesforce’s payout ratio is 26.32%.

Salesforce Company 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.