Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) Shares Sold by Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC

Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 8.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 10,334 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 917 shares during the period. Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $3,455,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp increased its stake in Salesforce by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 49,007,404 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $13,432,855,000 after purchasing an additional 864,193 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Salesforce by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,780,318 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $5,395,132,000 after acquiring an additional 257,501 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in 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 acquiring an additional 314,530 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in Salesforce by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 5,964,702 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,632,599,000 after purchasing an additional 57,825 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $1,618,407,000 after purchasing an additional 96,381 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CRM has been the subject of a number of research reports. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $450.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $425.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Salesforce from $300.00 to $420.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Macquarie reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $370.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Salesforce from $330.00 to $405.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, thirty-one have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Salesforce presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $377.63.

Salesforce Price Performance

Salesforce stock opened at $325.81 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 1.11. The company has a market capitalization of $311.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 1.31. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $338.97 and its 200-day simple moving average is $300.36. Salesforce, Inc. has a 1 year low of $212.00 and a 1 year high of $369.00.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, December 3rd. The CRM provider reported $2.41 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $9.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.35 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.62 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 18th were issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 18th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 26.32%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Salesforce news, COO Brian Millham sold 14,808 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $338.95, for a total transaction of $5,019,171.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 436 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $332.28, for a total transaction of $144,874.08. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 7,057 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,344,899.96. The trade was a 5.82 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,111,420 shares of company stock valued at $384,366,700 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

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.