Cumberland Partners Ltd Lowers Position in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Cumberland Partners Ltd reduced its stake in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 21.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,100 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 3,000 shares during the period. Cumberland Partners Ltd’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $3,711,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of CRM. Veritas Asset Management LLP purchased a new stake in Salesforce in the third quarter valued at approximately $733,805,000. Jennison Associates LLC grew its stake in shares of Salesforce by 52.7% in the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 4,433,785 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,482,347,000 after buying an additional 1,530,572 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB raised its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 46.7% in the 4th quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 3,829,773 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,280,408,000 after buying an additional 1,219,254 shares during the period. KBC Group NV lifted its stake in Salesforce by 171.2% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,634,834 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $447,470,000 after acquiring an additional 1,032,068 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Salesforce by 23,664.2% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,002,848 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $274,490,000 after acquiring an additional 998,628 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CRM has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $450.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Salesforce from $330.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. KeyCorp upgraded shares of Salesforce from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $440.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Barclays increased their price objective on Salesforce from $415.00 to $425.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Guggenheim lowered Salesforce from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $247.00 target price for the company. in a report on Monday, January 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, thirty-two have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Salesforce presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $376.84.

Salesforce Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of CRM stock opened at $324.19 on Thursday. Salesforce, Inc. has a twelve month low of $212.00 and a twelve month high of $369.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The business’s 50 day moving average is $335.02 and its two-hundred day moving average is $304.66. The company has a market capitalization of $310.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.31.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, December 3rd. The CRM provider reported $2.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.44 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $9.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.35 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 15.96% and a return on equity of 12.34%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.62 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 18th were given a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, December 18th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. Salesforce’s payout ratio is currently 26.32%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Salesforce

In related news, insider Miguel Milano sold 719 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $342.81, for a total transaction of $246,480.39. Following the sale, the insider now owns 4,659 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,597,151.79. The trade was a 13.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 436 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $332.28, for a total transaction of $144,874.08. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 7,057 shares in the company, valued at $2,344,899.96. The trade was a 5.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 1,117,641 shares of company stock valued at $386,408,308. 3.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.