Wedge Capital Management L L P NC cut its stake in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM – Free Report) by 4.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,626 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 67 shares during the quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $544,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Gabelli Funds LLC raised its stake in Salesforce by 11.9% during the second quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 2,405 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $618,000 after buying an additional 255 shares during the last quarter. RDST Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter. RDST Capital LLC now owns 97,770 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $25,137,000 after purchasing an additional 2,140 shares during the period. Resources Management Corp CT ADV grew its stake in Salesforce by 5.7% during the second quarter. Resources Management Corp CT ADV now owns 5,942 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,528,000 after purchasing an additional 323 shares during the period. Farallon Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Samlyn Capital LLC lifted its stake in Salesforce by 67.1% in the second quarter. Samlyn Capital LLC now owns 505,580 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $129,985,000 after buying an additional 202,965 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company’s stock.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Salesforce from $340.00 to $430.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Cfra set a $343.00 price objective on Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $400.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Northland Capmk upgraded shares of Salesforce from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on Salesforce from $275.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, thirty-one have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $377.63.
Insider Activity
In related news, Director G Mason Morfit sold 722,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $346.11, for a total value of $249,995,253.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,192,009 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,104,786,234.99. This represents a 18.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Brian Millham sold 969 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $286.56, for a total value of $277,676.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 1,172,167 shares of company stock valued at $402,223,235. Corporate insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.
Salesforce Trading Up 0.7 %
NYSE:CRM opened at $326.85 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $312.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.76, a P/E/G ratio of 2.93 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 quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The company has a fifty day moving average of $336.97 and a 200 day moving average of $292.47.
Salesforce (NYSE:CRM – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, December 3rd. The CRM provider reported $2.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.44 by ($0.03). Salesforce had a net margin of 15.96% and a return on equity of 12.34%. The business had revenue of $9.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.35 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.62 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.48 earnings per share for the current year.
Salesforce Dividend Announcement
The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 18th were issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 18th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.32%.
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.
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