MRA Advisory Group Sells 242 Shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

MRA Advisory Group lowered its holdings in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 24.1% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 762 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 242 shares during the period. MRA Advisory Group’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $255,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in CRM. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. grew its stake in shares of Salesforce by 5.6% in the 2nd quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 21,263 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $5,467,000 after buying an additional 1,120 shares during the period. Moors & Cabot Inc. boosted its holdings in Salesforce by 1.5% in the second quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 38,924 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $10,007,000 after acquiring an additional 572 shares in the last quarter. GDS Wealth Management boosted its holdings in Salesforce by 7.7% in the second quarter. GDS Wealth Management now owns 55,378 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $14,238,000 after acquiring an additional 3,940 shares in the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA grew its stake in Salesforce by 64.6% in the second quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 508,600 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $130,761,000 after acquiring an additional 199,700 shares during the period. Finally, Conscious Wealth Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 0.8% during the second quarter. Conscious Wealth Investments LLC now owns 9,992 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,558,000 after acquiring an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Salesforce from $300.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $425.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Northland Capmk raised shares of Salesforce from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Northland Securities reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $440.00 price target (up previously from $400.00) on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Macquarie reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $370.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, thirty have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Salesforce currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $376.05.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Salesforce news, 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 52,930 shares in the company, valued at $15,100,399.70. This represents a 1.67 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 413 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $285.29, for a total transaction of $117,824.77. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 7,006 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,998,741.74. This trade represents a 5.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,177,617 shares of company stock worth $403,542,975 in the last quarter. 3.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Salesforce Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of Salesforce stock opened at $323.31 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $309.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.18, a P/E/G ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 1.30. Salesforce, Inc. has a 52-week low of $212.00 and a 52-week high of $369.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 1.11. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $336.76 and its 200 day simple moving average is $290.66.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, December 3rd. The CRM provider reported $2.41 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.44 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $9.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.35 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 15.96% and a return on equity of 12.34%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.62 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.48 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 18th were issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 18th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.