Redmond Asset Management LLC Reduces Stake in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Redmond Asset Management LLC reduced its stake in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 4.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,884 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 273 shares during the quarter. Redmond Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $1,967,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Salesforce by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 49,007,404 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $13,432,855,000 after buying an additional 864,193 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Salesforce by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,780,318 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $5,395,132,000 after buying an additional 257,501 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Salesforce by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 12,276,551 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $3,360,215,000 after buying an additional 314,530 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in Salesforce by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 5,964,702 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,632,599,000 after buying an additional 57,825 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,912,854 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,618,407,000 after purchasing an additional 96,381 shares during the period. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Scotiabank increased their price target on Salesforce from $425.00 to $440.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Salesforce from $300.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Northland Securities reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $440.00 target price (up previously from $400.00) on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on Salesforce from $400.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on Salesforce from $368.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, thirty-two have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $375.53.

Insider Activity at Salesforce

In related news, Director G Mason Morfit sold 722,300 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $346.11, for a total transaction of $249,995,253.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,192,009 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,104,786,234.99. The trade was a 18.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 436 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $332.28, for a total value of $144,874.08. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 7,057 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,344,899.96. This represents a 5.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,102,833 shares of company stock worth $381,389,136 over the last three months. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Salesforce Trading Down 2.8 %

Shares of CRM stock opened at $309.54 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. Salesforce, Inc. has a twelve month low of $212.00 and a twelve month high of $369.00. The company has a market capitalization of $296.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 1.31. The business’s 50 day moving average is $333.34 and its two-hundred day moving average is $305.25.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted 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). Salesforce had a net margin of 15.96% and a return on equity of 12.34%. The business had revenue of $9.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.35 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.62 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 18th were paid 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 dividend yield of 0.52%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.32%.

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.