Carret Asset Management LLC Lowers Position in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Carret Asset Management LLC trimmed its position in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 4.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,674 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 110 shares during the period. Carret Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $805,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Marks Group Wealth Management Inc grew its holdings in Salesforce by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Marks Group Wealth Management Inc now owns 35,220 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $9,268,000 after purchasing an additional 257 shares during the period. Spartan Planning & Wealth Management grew its holdings in Salesforce by 66.3% during the fourth quarter. Spartan Planning & Wealth Management now owns 1,567 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $412,000 after purchasing an additional 625 shares during the period. Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. grew its holdings in Salesforce by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. now owns 7,881 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,206,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares during the period. Parnassus Investments LLC grew its holdings in Salesforce by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 5,951,415 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,566,055,000 after purchasing an additional 18,397 shares during the period. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 32.6% in the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 789,525 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $207,756,000 after acquiring an additional 194,224 shares during the period. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Salesforce Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CRM opened at $260.83 on Thursday. Salesforce, Inc. has a twelve month low of $193.68 and a twelve month high of $318.71. The firm has a market cap of $252.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.91, a PEG ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a 50 day moving average of $259.03 and a 200 day moving average of $276.43. The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 29th. The CRM provider reported $2.44 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.38 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $9.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.15 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 15.30% and a return on equity of 11.57%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.15 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 25th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 9th will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.61%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, July 9th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is 7.19%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.14, for a total transaction of $4,502,100.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 12,951,166 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,887,162,963.24. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.14, for a total value of $4,502,100.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 12,951,166 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,887,162,963.24. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Amy E. Weaver sold 5,864 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $274.77, for a total transaction of $1,611,251.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 45,231 shares in the company, valued at $12,428,121.87. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 499,152 shares of company stock worth $136,281,661. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $345.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, May 30th. StockNews.com downgraded Salesforce from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $350.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Friday, May 24th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $342.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group lowered their price objective on Salesforce from $350.00 to $300.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, twenty-five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $292.79.

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.