Hodges Capital Management Inc. Has $403,000 Stock Holdings in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Hodges Capital Management Inc. lowered its stake in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 7.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,337 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 115 shares during the quarter. Hodges Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $403,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bear Mountain Capital Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Signature Resources Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Salesforce in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. acquired a new position in Salesforce during the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. BKM Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Salesforce during the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, Pacifica Partners Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 333.3% in the fourth quarter. Pacifica Partners Inc. now owns 130 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on CRM shares. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Salesforce from $350.00 to $320.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Oppenheimer reduced their price target on Salesforce from $325.00 to $280.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Citigroup lowered their price target on Salesforce from $323.00 to $260.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. UBS Group cut their price objective on Salesforce from $310.00 to $250.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 30th. Finally, Evercore ISI dropped their price target on shares of Salesforce from $330.00 to $300.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, twenty-five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $292.79.

Salesforce Trading Up 1.7 %

Shares of CRM stock traded up $4.25 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $257.10. 12,619,303 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 11,223,949. The company has a market cap of $249.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $259.79 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $276.20. Salesforce, Inc. has a 1-year low of $193.68 and a 1-year high of $318.71.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 29th. The CRM provider reported $2.44 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.38 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $9.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.15 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 15.30% and a return on equity of 11.57%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.15 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 25th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 9th will be paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, July 9th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.62%. Salesforce’s payout ratio is 7.19%.

Insider Transactions at Salesforce

In other news, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 2,425 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $273.15, for a total transaction of $662,388.75. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 5,856 shares in the company, valued at $1,599,566.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 2,425 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $273.15, for a total value of $662,388.75. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 5,856 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,599,566.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Srinivas Tallapragada sold 942 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.32, for a total transaction of $228,265.44. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 22,154 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,368,357.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 547,387 shares of company stock worth $151,174,635 over the last ninety days. 3.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.