Eastern Bank Trims Stake in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Eastern Bank reduced its stake in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 5.2% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 62,387 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 3,398 shares during the period. Eastern Bank’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $16,742,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of CRM. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Salesforce by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,955,353 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $6,656,078,000 after acquiring an additional 175,035 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of Salesforce by 18.3% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 11,224,927 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $3,752,830,000 after purchasing an additional 1,736,667 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 23.2% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,938,536 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,988,422,000 after purchasing an additional 1,683,233 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its position in shares of Salesforce by 7.5% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 8,658,132 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $2,894,673,000 after purchasing an additional 602,445 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Salesforce by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 8,598,989 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $2,874,900,000 after buying an additional 114,278 shares during the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on CRM. UBS Group set a $404.00 price objective on Salesforce and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 18th. Erste Group Bank lowered Salesforce from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 5th. Northland Securities dropped their price target on shares of Salesforce from $423.00 to $396.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. Cantor Fitzgerald lowered shares of Salesforce from an “overweight” rating to a “cautious” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $430.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, twenty-seven have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Salesforce presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $348.16.

Salesforce Stock Down 1.0%

Shares of CRM stock opened at $267.47 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. Salesforce Inc. has a 12 month low of $230.00 and a 12 month high of $369.00. The stock has a market cap of $255.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.86, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.36. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $267.33 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $283.24.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 28th. The CRM provider reported $2.58 earnings per share (EPS) 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 net margin of 16.08% and a return on equity of 12.94%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.44 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 10th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 18th were paid a $0.416 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 18th. This represents a $1.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.62%. Salesforce’s payout ratio is presently 25.98%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 2,250 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $271.69, for a total transaction of $611,302.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 11,862,457 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,222,910,942.33. This represents a 0.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Srinivas Tallapragada sold 6,697 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $295.00, for a total transaction of $1,975,615.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 41,422 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,219,490. This represents a 13.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 37,979 shares of company stock worth $10,303,399 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

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.