Rise Advisors LLC Decreases Stock Position in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Rise Advisors LLC lessened its stake in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 3.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 794 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 32 shares during the period. Rise Advisors LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $266,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of CRM. Veritas Asset Management LLP purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce in the third quarter worth $733,805,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 48.3% in the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 5,906,877 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,518,658,000 after acquiring an additional 1,922,674 shares during the period. KBC Group NV raised its stake in shares of Salesforce by 171.2% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,634,834 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $447,470,000 after acquiring an additional 1,032,068 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 23,664.2% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,002,848 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $274,490,000 after purchasing an additional 998,628 shares during the period. Finally, Farallon Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Salesforce by 51.0% in the second quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC now owns 2,946,838 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $757,632,000 after purchasing an additional 994,670 shares during the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CRM has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Salesforce from $360.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Loop Capital raised their price target on Salesforce from $340.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $340.00 to $430.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Northland Capmk upgraded Salesforce from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Northland Securities reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $440.00 price objective (up previously from $400.00) on shares of Salesforce in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, thirty have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Salesforce has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $375.39.

Salesforce Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:CRM traded down $4.00 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $326.53. 2,622,961 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,317,451. Salesforce, Inc. has a 52 week low of $212.00 and a 52 week high of $369.00. The firm has a market cap of $312.49 billion, a PE ratio of 53.71, a PEG ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 1.30. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $333.53 and its 200-day moving average price is $287.43. 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 announced 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). The firm had revenue of $9.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.35 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 15.96% and a return on equity of 12.34%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.62 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Salesforce news, insider R David Schmaier sold 1,785 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $344.00, for a total transaction of $614,040.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 19,116 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,575,904. This represents a 8.54 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Marc Benioff sold 317,105 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $346.78, for a total value of $109,965,671.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 12,162,457 shares in the company, valued at $4,217,696,838.46. This represents a 2.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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. Corporate insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

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.