Davis R M Inc. Sells 218 Shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Davis R M Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 7.0% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 2,901 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 218 shares during the period. Davis R M Inc.’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $794,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CRM. Prosperity Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Salesforce by 4.7% during the third quarter. Prosperity Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,024 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $280,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Hawaii lifted its holdings in Salesforce by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of Hawaii now owns 4,179 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,144,000 after buying an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Salesforce by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 12,276,551 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $3,360,215,000 after buying an additional 314,530 shares during the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Salesforce by 12.1% in the 3rd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 216,872 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $59,360,000 after buying an additional 23,365 shares during the period. Finally, Marco Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Salesforce by 1.5% during the third quarter. Marco Investment Management LLC now owns 53,404 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $14,617,000 after acquiring an additional 806 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Salesforce

In other news, CFO Amy E. Weaver sold 897 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $285.29, for a total value of $255,905.13. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 52,930 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,100,399.70. This represents a 1.67 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Miguel Milano sold 719 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $342.81, for a total value of $246,480.39. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 4,659 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,597,151.79. The trade was a 13.37 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 144,510 shares of company stock worth $42,475,538 over the last quarter. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Salesforce Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CRM opened at $339.12 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 1.04. The business has a 50-day moving average of $296.26 and a 200-day moving average of $268.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $324.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 58.98, a PEG ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.29. Salesforce, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $212.00 and a fifty-two week high of $348.86.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The CRM provider reported $2.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.20. Salesforce had a return on equity of 12.01% and a net margin of 15.44%. The firm had revenue of $9.33 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.22 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.63 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 8th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 18th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 18th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 27.83%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on CRM shares. Phillip Securities reiterated an “accumulate” rating and issued a $305.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a report on Friday, August 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price target on shares of Salesforce from $234.00 to $236.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. JMP Securities raised their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $342.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. BNP Paribas raised shares of Salesforce to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Salesforce from $320.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $339.66.

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.