Boston Common Asset Management LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Boston Common Asset Management LLC cut its stake in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 19.0% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 68,301 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 16,053 shares during the quarter. Boston Common Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $22,835,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Relyea Zuckerberg Hanson LLC boosted its holdings in Salesforce by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. Relyea Zuckerberg Hanson LLC now owns 2,336 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $781,000 after acquiring an additional 118 shares during the last quarter. CNB Bank raised its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 6.8% in the 4th quarter. CNB Bank now owns 4,701 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,572,000 after purchasing an additional 301 shares during the period. Saxon Interests Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce in the 4th quarter valued at about $238,000. Avanza Fonder AB purchased a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the 4th quarter worth about $21,059,000. Finally, Procyon Advisors LLC increased its position in Salesforce by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC now owns 32,117 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $10,738,000 after purchasing an additional 1,252 shares in the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Salesforce Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of CRM stock traded up $3.39 on Friday, hitting $323.39. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,161,994 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,731,406. The stock has a market capitalization of $309.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.28, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.30. Salesforce, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $212.00 and a fifty-two week high of $369.00. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $337.05 and its 200-day moving average price is $290.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 1.11.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 company 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%. Salesforce’s quarterly revenue was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.62 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.48 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Salesforce

In related news, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 413 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $285.29, for a total transaction of $117,824.77. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 7,006 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,998,741.74. The trade was a 5.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director G Mason Morfit sold 722,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $346.11, for a total value of $249,995,253.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 3,192,009 shares in the company, valued at $1,104,786,234.99. This trade represents a 18.45 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 1,183,838 shares of company stock worth $405,595,158. 3.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CRM has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Salesforce from $275.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Salesforce from $300.00 to $420.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Cfra set a $343.00 price target on Salesforce in a report on Thursday, October 17th. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $450.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $425.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, thirty-one have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $377.63.

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.