Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) Shares Sold by Wedge Capital Management L L P NC

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC trimmed its stake in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 2.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,729 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 43 shares during the quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $455,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. California Public Employees Retirement System grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 20.9% during the fourth quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 2,431,933 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $639,939,000 after buying an additional 420,231 shares in the last quarter. RWA Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 674.1% during the fourth quarter. RWA Wealth Partners LLC now owns 17,649 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $4,644,000 after buying an additional 15,369 shares in the last quarter. Telemus Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. Telemus Capital LLC now owns 13,780 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $3,626,000 after buying an additional 653 shares in the last quarter. Greenwich Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 8.8% during the fourth quarter. Greenwich Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,464 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $648,000 after buying an additional 199 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Keeler Thomas Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 27.8% during the fourth quarter. Keeler Thomas Management LLC now owns 6,700 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,763,000 after buying an additional 1,457 shares in the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. TheStreet upgraded Salesforce from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Friday, January 19th. StockNews.com cut Salesforce from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Salesforce from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Salesforce from $260.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $350.00 price objective (up previously from $325.00) on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Salesforce currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $310.61.

Salesforce Price Performance

NYSE CRM opened at $274.21 on Friday. Salesforce, Inc. has a twelve month low of $190.76 and a twelve month high of $318.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $265.98 billion, a PE ratio of 65.29, a P/E/G ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 1.28. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $295.97 and a 200 day simple moving average of $263.90.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The CRM provider reported $1.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.72 by $0.06. Salesforce had a return on equity of 10.42% and a net margin of 11.87%. The firm had revenue of $9.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.22 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.01 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.45 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 13th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.58%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is 9.52%.

Insider Activity at Salesforce

In other news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $285.05, for a total value of $4,275,750.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,656,166 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,892,690,118.30. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $285.05, for a total value of $4,275,750.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,656,166 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,892,690,118.30. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Srinivas Tallapragada sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $283.12, for a total value of $2,831,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 60,416 shares in the company, valued at $17,104,977.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 620,793 shares of company stock worth $182,177,918 over the last three months. Company insiders own 3.70% 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.