D.A. Davidson & CO. Lowers Position in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

D.A. Davidson & CO. decreased its stake in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 9.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 59,292 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 6,441 shares during the period. D.A. Davidson & CO.’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $16,229,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Salesforce by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 12,276,551 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $3,360,215,000 after buying an additional 314,530 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its holdings in Salesforce by 2.2% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 8,329,687 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $2,141,562,000 after acquiring an additional 176,641 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in Salesforce by 1.0% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 5,964,702 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,632,599,000 after acquiring an additional 57,825 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Salesforce by 1.7% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,912,854 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,618,407,000 after purchasing an additional 96,381 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 25.1% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,378,826 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,125,331,000 after purchasing an additional 877,495 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE CRM opened at $343.21 on Wednesday. Salesforce, Inc. has a 12 month low of $212.00 and a 12 month high of $348.86. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The firm has a market capitalization of $328.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 59.69, a PEG ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.29. The business has a 50-day moving average of $298.02 and a 200-day moving average of $269.44.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 28th. The CRM provider reported $2.56 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.20. Salesforce had a return on equity of 12.01% and a net margin of 15.44%. The company had revenue of $9.33 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.22 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.63 earnings per share. Salesforce’s revenue was up 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 8th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 18th were given a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 18th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.47%. Salesforce’s payout ratio is 27.83%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Miguel Milano sold 719 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $342.81, for a total value of $246,480.39. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 4,659 shares in the company, valued at $1,597,151.79. The trade was a 13.37 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Sabastian Niles sold 2,484 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $244.81, for a total value of $608,108.04. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 828 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $202,702.68. The trade was a 75.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 144,510 shares of company stock worth $42,475,538 in the last quarter. 3.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on CRM shares. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Citigroup lifted their target price on Salesforce from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, August 26th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Salesforce from $275.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. TD Cowen lifted their target price on Salesforce from $290.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Cfra set a $343.00 target price on Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. 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 MarketBeat, Salesforce has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $339.66.

Salesforce 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.