Pallas Capital Advisors LLC Trims Holdings in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Pallas Capital Advisors LLC decreased its position in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 2.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 35,788 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 870 shares during the quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $11,965,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of CRM. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Salesforce by 38.3% in the second quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 206 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 5.6% in the second quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 21,263 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $5,467,000 after buying an additional 1,120 shares during the last quarter. Angeles Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Salesforce by 8.2% during the second quarter. Angeles Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,773 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $713,000 after acquiring an additional 211 shares during the period. Capital Wealth Planning LLC raised its position in Salesforce by 3.0% during the second quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC now owns 10,743 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,762,000 after acquiring an additional 312 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Financial Perspectives Inc lifted its holdings in Salesforce by 197.3% in the second quarter. Financial Perspectives Inc now owns 223 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $57,000 after acquiring an additional 148 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on CRM. Northland Capmk raised shares of Salesforce from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $385.00 to $425.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Salesforce from $330.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. DA Davidson lifted their price target on Salesforce from $250.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Scotiabank increased their price target on Salesforce from $425.00 to $440.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, thirty have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Salesforce has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $376.05.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider R David Schmaier sold 1,785 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $344.00, for a total transaction of $614,040.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 19,116 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,575,904. This represents a 8.54 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Marc Benioff sold 317,105 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $346.78, for a total value of $109,965,671.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 12,162,457 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,217,696,838.46. This represents a 2.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,177,617 shares of company stock worth $403,542,975 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Stock Performance

Shares of Salesforce stock opened at $319.39 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $305.66 billion, a PE ratio of 52.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 1.30. 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, Inc. has a 52 week low of $212.00 and a 52 week high of $369.00. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $336.25 and its 200-day simple moving average is $290.19.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, December 3rd. The CRM provider reported $2.41 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.44 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $9.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.35 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 15.96% and a return on equity of 12.34%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.62 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 18th were given a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 18th. Salesforce’s payout ratio is 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.