Factory Mutual Insurance Co. Reduces Position in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Factory Mutual Insurance Co. reduced its holdings in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 22.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 60,100 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 17,600 shares during the period. Factory Mutual Insurance Co.’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $20,093,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Nvest Financial LLC lifted its stake in Salesforce by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Nvest Financial LLC now owns 2,806 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $938,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Sachetta LLC lifted its position in Salesforce by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Sachetta LLC now owns 11,018 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $3,684,000 after buying an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. Aviance Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in Salesforce by 0.5% during the third quarter. Aviance Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,797 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,860,000 after buying an additional 33 shares during the last quarter. EWA LLC grew its holdings in Salesforce by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. EWA LLC now owns 2,001 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $548,000 after buying an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Umpqua Bank increased its stake in shares of Salesforce by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Umpqua Bank now owns 7,708 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $2,110,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Brian Millham sold 708 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $332.28, for a total transaction of $235,254.24. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 1,239 shares in the company, valued at approximately $411,694.92. The trade was a 36.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 436 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $332.28, for a total value of $144,874.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 7,057 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,344,899.96. This trade represents a 5.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,108,669 shares of company stock worth $383,286,905 over the last 90 days. 3.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CRM has been the topic of several recent research reports. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and set a $400.00 price target (up previously from $380.00) on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. DA Davidson increased their price target on shares of Salesforce from $250.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Salesforce from $385.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Guggenheim lowered Salesforce from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $247.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Salesforce from $390.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, thirty-one have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $377.63.

Salesforce Trading Down 0.5 %

NYSE CRM opened at $341.80 on Friday. Salesforce, Inc. has a 52 week low of $212.00 and a 52 week high of $369.00. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $338.68 and a two-hundred day moving average of $296.75. 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 has a market capitalization of $327.10 billion, a PE ratio of 56.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 1.30.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, December 3rd. The CRM provider reported $2.41 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.44 by ($0.03). Salesforce had a return on equity of 12.34% and a net margin of 15.96%. The firm had revenue of $9.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.35 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.62 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 18th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, December 18th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.32%.

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.