Prudent Man Advisors LLC Sells 235 Shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Prudent Man Advisors LLC lessened its stake in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 6.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,635 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 235 shares during the period. Prudent Man Advisors LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $1,215,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in CRM. Veritas Asset Management LLP bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the 3rd quarter valued at $733,805,000. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 52.7% during the 4th 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 lifted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 46.7% during 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 in the last quarter. KBC Group NV lifted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 171.2% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,634,834 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $447,470,000 after buying an additional 1,032,068 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 56,872.2% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 933,204 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $311,998,000 after buying an additional 931,566 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Salesforce from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $380.00 to $400.00 in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Oppenheimer lowered their target price on shares of Salesforce from $415.00 to $380.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of Salesforce from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Macquarie decreased their price target on shares of Salesforce from $370.00 to $320.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Piper Sandler decreased their price target on shares of Salesforce from $405.00 to $400.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, thirty-two have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $365.32.

Salesforce Trading Up 0.9 %

NYSE CRM opened at $297.63 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $329.11 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $307.21. The stock has a market cap of $284.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.95, a P/E/G ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.31. Salesforce, Inc. has a 12-month low of $212.00 and a 12-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.

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

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 18th were paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, December 18th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.54%. Salesforce’s payout ratio is currently 25.16%.

Insider Transactions at Salesforce

In related news, Director G Mason Morfit sold 722,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $346.11, for a total transaction of $249,995,253.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 3,192,009 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,104,786,234.99. This trade represents a 18.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Marc Benioff sold 317,105 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $346.78, for a total transaction of $109,965,671.90. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 12,162,457 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,217,696,838.46. This represents a 2.54 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,102,572 shares of company stock worth $381,283,706 over the last 90 days. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.