BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S Sells 16,177 Shares of Salesforce Inc. $CRM

BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S decreased its position in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 16.7% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 80,734 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 16,177 shares during the quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $21,666,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in CRM. AIA Group Ltd boosted its holdings in Salesforce by 8.0% during the first quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 32,885 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $8,825,000 after buying an additional 2,436 shares during the last quarter. Notis McConarty Edward boosted its holdings in Salesforce by 71.6% during the first quarter. Notis McConarty Edward now owns 3,844 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,032,000 after buying an additional 1,604 shares during the last quarter. Aberdeen Group plc boosted its holdings in Salesforce by 1.5% during the first quarter. Aberdeen Group plc now owns 1,036,482 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $274,802,000 after buying an additional 15,782 shares during the last quarter. Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel Ltd. boosted its holdings in Salesforce by 43.0% during the first quarter. Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel Ltd. now owns 104,834 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $28,133,000 after buying an additional 31,537 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alecta Tjanstepension Omsesidigt raised its position in shares of Salesforce by 121.9% during the first quarter. Alecta Tjanstepension Omsesidigt now owns 355,000 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $95,222,000 after purchasing an additional 195,000 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Stock Performance

NYSE:CRM opened at $244.15 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $259.85 and a 200-day moving average price of $274.14. The company has a market cap of $233.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.21, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.07. Salesforce Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $226.48 and a fifty-two week high of $369.00.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 28th. The CRM provider reported $2.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.55 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $9.83 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.74 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 12.94% and a net margin of 16.08%. The company’s revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.44 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 10th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 18th were issued a dividend of $0.416 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 18th. This represents a $1.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Salesforce’s payout ratio is 25.98%.

Insider Activity at Salesforce

In other news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 2,250 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $260.30, for a total transaction of $585,675.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 11,955,566 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,112,033,829.80. The trade was a 0.02% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 48,782 shares of company stock worth $12,626,046. 3.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on Salesforce from $340.00 to $385.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $275.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Monday. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $370.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Tuesday, June 10th. Erste Group Bank lowered Salesforce from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 5th. Finally, JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $430.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twenty-six have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $342.89.

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.