HM Payson & Co. Trims Position in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

HM Payson & Co. lessened its stake in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 9.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,180 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 433 shares during the quarter. HM Payson & Co.’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $1,259,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Marks Group Wealth Management Inc grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Marks Group Wealth Management Inc now owns 35,220 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $9,268,000 after purchasing an additional 257 shares in the last quarter. Spartan Planning & Wealth Management grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 66.3% during the fourth quarter. Spartan Planning & Wealth Management now owns 1,567 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $412,000 after purchasing an additional 625 shares in the last quarter. Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. now owns 7,881 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $2,206,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 5,951,415 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,566,055,000 after purchasing an additional 18,397 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 32.6% during the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 789,525 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $207,756,000 after purchasing an additional 194,224 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.45, for a total transaction of $4,131,750.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 12,662,327 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,487,837,972.15. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Salesforce news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.45, for a total value of $4,131,750.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 12,662,327 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,487,837,972.15. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 413 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.78, for a total value of $105,637.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 6,431 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,644,921.18. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 279,242 shares of company stock valued at $73,931,941 over the last ninety days. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Salesforce Stock Down 3.6 %

Shares of NYSE CRM traded down $9.09 during trading on Friday, reaching $243.97. The company had a trading volume of 6,504,544 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,600,353. Salesforce, Inc. has a 12-month low of $193.68 and a 12-month high of $318.71. The stock has a market cap of $236.41 billion, a PE ratio of 43.88, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.29. The business’s 50-day moving average is $248.53 and its 200 day moving average is $274.95. 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 (NYSE:CRM) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 29th. The CRM provider reported $2.44 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.38 by $0.06. Salesforce had a return on equity of 11.57% and a net margin of 15.30%. The firm had revenue of $9.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.15 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.15 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 25th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 9th were issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.66%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, July 9th. Salesforce’s payout ratio is currently 28.78%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on CRM. DA Davidson dropped their target price on Salesforce from $300.00 to $230.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their target price on Salesforce from $350.00 to $300.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on Salesforce from $335.00 to $265.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Macquarie dropped their target price on Salesforce from $330.00 to $275.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Finally, Wedbush dropped their target price on Salesforce from $325.00 to $315.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, twenty-five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $292.79.

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.