Martingale Asset Management L P Sells 16,421 Shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Martingale Asset Management L P trimmed its stake in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 19.0% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 69,950 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 16,421 shares during the quarter. Martingale Asset Management L P’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $19,146,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Piscataqua Savings Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 2,400.0% during the second quarter. Piscataqua Savings Bank now owns 100 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. Infrastructure Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the third quarter worth $27,000. Clear Investment Research LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 816.7% during the second quarter. Clear Investment Research LLC now owns 110 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 98 shares in the last quarter. Stephens Consulting LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 3,125.0% during the second quarter. Stephens Consulting LLC now owns 129 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL acquired a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the second quarter worth $33,000. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on CRM shares. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $385.00 target price (up previously from $330.00) on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Salesforce from $275.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on Salesforce from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Salesforce from $305.00 to $385.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Roth Mkm reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $335.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Salesforce has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $341.89.

Insider Buying and Selling at Salesforce

In other news, insider Sabastian Niles sold 2,484 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $244.81, for a total transaction of $608,108.04. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 828 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $202,702.68. This represents a 75.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Parker Harris sold 3,528 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.59, for a total value of $884,081.52. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 117,581 shares in the company, valued at $29,464,622.79. The trade was a 2.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 144,510 shares of company stock valued at $42,475,538. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Salesforce Stock Performance

Shares of CRM stock opened at $330.01 on Friday. Salesforce, Inc. has a one year low of $212.00 and a one year high of $348.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 1.04. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $300.85 and its 200 day simple moving average is $270.29. The stock has a market capitalization of $315.49 billion, a PE ratio of 57.39, a PEG ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 1.29.

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

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 8th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 18th were paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 18th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.83%.

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.