Prudent Man Advisors LLC Decreases Stake in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Prudent Man Advisors LLC reduced its holdings in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 6.1% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor 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 reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of CRM. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 27.4% in the third quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 512 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $140,000 after buying an additional 110 shares in the last quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management raised its stake in Salesforce by 1.4% during the third quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management now owns 8,968 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $2,455,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the period. HM Payson & Co. raised its stake in Salesforce by 1.9% during the third quarter. HM Payson & Co. now owns 4,112 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,125,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares during the period. Baron Silver Stevens Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in Salesforce by 12.6% during the third quarter. Baron Silver Stevens Financial Advisors LLC now owns 891 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $244,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Salesforce during the third quarter worth about $78,000. 80.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Canaccord Genuity Group reduced their target price on shares of Salesforce from $415.00 to $400.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on shares of Salesforce from $425.00 to $375.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Northland Securities reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $440.00 price target (up from $400.00) on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Loop Capital dropped their price target on shares of Salesforce from $330.00 to $300.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Piper Sandler dropped their price target on shares of Salesforce from $405.00 to $400.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, thirty-two have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $365.32.

Insider Buying and Selling at Salesforce

In other Salesforce news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 317,105 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $346.78, for a total value of $109,965,671.90. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Miguel Milano sold 458 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.97, for a total transaction of $141,050.26. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 5,864 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,805,936.08. The trade was a 7.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 1,102,572 shares of company stock worth $381,283,706. Corporate insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Stock Performance

NYSE:CRM opened at $297.63 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $284.83 billion, a PE ratio of 48.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.31. 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 simple moving average is $329.11 and its 200-day simple moving average is $307.21. The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, December 3rd. The CRM provider reported $2.41 EPS 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 net margin of 15.96% and a return on equity of 12.34%. Salesforce’s revenue was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.62 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 18th were issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 18th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.54%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.16%.

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.