Abbrea Capital LLC Reduces Holdings in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Abbrea Capital LLC decreased its holdings in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 10.6% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 41,400 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 4,908 shares during the quarter. Salesforce accounts for 1.4% of Abbrea Capital LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest position. Abbrea Capital LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $10,644,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in CRM. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Salesforce during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,762,331,000. Capital International Investors lifted its holdings in Salesforce by 76.4% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 13,708,615 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $3,607,493,000 after purchasing an additional 5,935,973 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings in Salesforce by 26.9% during the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 14,376,536 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $4,329,925,000 after purchasing an additional 3,044,611 shares in the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the first quarter valued at approximately $910,220,000. Finally, Swedbank AB bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the first quarter valued at approximately $874,748,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on CRM. Bank of America reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $325.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Friday, September 6th. Phillip Securities reiterated an “accumulate” rating and set a $305.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $295.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Erste Group Bank reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Wednesday. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $304.41.

Insider Buying and Selling at Salesforce

In other Salesforce news, 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 transaction of $105,637.14. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 6,431 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,644,921.18. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 413 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.78, for a total transaction of $105,637.14. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 6,431 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,644,921.18. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Oscar Munoz acquired 2,051 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 21st. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $243.69 per share, for a total transaction of $499,808.19. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 7,026 shares in the company, valued at $1,712,165.94. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 62,376 shares of company stock valued at $15,878,005. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Salesforce Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of Salesforce stock opened at $253.46 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 1.04. Salesforce, Inc. has a 1 year low of $193.68 and a 1 year high of $318.71. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $253.73 and its two-hundred day moving average is $268.67. The stock has a market cap of $245.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.59, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.29.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The CRM provider reported $2.56 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $9.33 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.22 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 15.44% and a return on equity of 12.01%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.63 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 8th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 18th will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.63%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 18th. Salesforce’s payout ratio is 28.78%.

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.