Banque Cantonale Vaudoise Trims Position in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Banque Cantonale Vaudoise cut its holdings in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 16.5% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 48,742 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 9,631 shares during the period. Salesforce makes up 0.6% of Banque Cantonale Vaudoise’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest position. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $13,341,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 103.5% during the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 54,761 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $16,494,000 after acquiring an additional 27,850 shares during the period. Vaughan David Investments LLC IL purchased a new position in Salesforce during the first quarter worth approximately $324,000. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund raised its stake in Salesforce by 31.0% during the first quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 81,100 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $24,426,000 after purchasing an additional 19,200 shares during the period. InterOcean Capital Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Salesforce by 18.0% during the 1st quarter. InterOcean Capital Group LLC now owns 4,062 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,223,000 after buying an additional 621 shares during the period. Finally, Evermay Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 5.1% during the 1st quarter. Evermay Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,879 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $566,000 after buying an additional 91 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CRM has been the subject of a number of research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price target on Salesforce from $234.00 to $236.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Northland Capmk upgraded Salesforce from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Salesforce from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 26th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Salesforce from $305.00 to $385.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-seven have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $325.36.

Salesforce Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CRM opened at $322.25 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The company has a market capitalization of $308.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 56.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 1.29. Salesforce, Inc. has a twelve month low of $212.00 and a twelve month high of $348.86. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $288.14 and a 200-day simple moving average of $266.96.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The CRM provider reported $2.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $9.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.22 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 15.44% and a return on equity of 12.01%. The firm’s revenue was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.63 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 8th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 18th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 18th. Salesforce’s payout ratio is 27.83%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Brian Millham sold 4,056 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $261.50, for a total transaction of $1,060,644.00. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Amy E. Weaver sold 897 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $285.29, for a total value of $255,905.13. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 52,930 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,100,399.70. This represents a 1.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 140,173 shares of company stock valued at $40,146,206. Insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

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.