SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. Decreases Stock Holdings in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. trimmed its holdings in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 4.4% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,247 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 58 shares during the quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC.’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $335,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Salesforce by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,955,353 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $6,656,078,000 after purchasing an additional 175,035 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Salesforce by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 12,453,872 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $4,163,703,000 after buying an additional 177,321 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of Salesforce by 18.3% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 11,224,927 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $3,752,830,000 after buying an additional 1,736,667 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $3,599,867,000. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in shares of Salesforce by 23.2% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,938,536 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,988,422,000 after buying an additional 1,683,233 shares during the period. 80.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CRM has been the topic of several analyst reports. Loop Capital reduced their price target on shares of Salesforce from $330.00 to $300.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on shares of Salesforce from $430.00 to $400.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Salesforce from $340.00 to $385.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of Salesforce from $425.00 to $375.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Barclays cut their target price on Salesforce from $425.00 to $347.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Salesforce currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $346.34.

Insider Activity at Salesforce

In other news, CFO Amy E. Weaver sold 6,221 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $277.37, for a total value of $1,725,518.77. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 46,750 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,967,047.50. This represents a 11.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Parker Harris sold 3,273 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $284.58, for a total transaction of $931,430.34. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 125,146 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $35,614,048.68. The trade was a 2.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 40,332 shares of company stock valued at $11,024,802 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Price Performance

Shares of CRM opened at $274.48 on Monday. Salesforce, Inc. has a 1-year low of $227.77 and a 1-year high of $369.00. The stock has a market cap of $262.40 billion, a PE ratio of 45.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 1.11. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $266.57 and a 200 day moving average price of $302.19.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 28th. The CRM provider reported $2.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.55 by $0.03. Salesforce had a net margin of 15.96% and a return on equity of 12.34%. The firm had revenue of $9.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.74 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.44 earnings per share. Salesforce’s quarterly revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 10th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 18th will be given a $0.416 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 18th. This represents a $1.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.61%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.98%.

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.