Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. Decreases Stake in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. cut its stake in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 6.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 12,492 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 797 shares during the quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $4,176,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Nabity Jensen Investment Management Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $1,215,000. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Salesforce by 13.6% during the third quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 58,036 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $15,885,000 after purchasing an additional 6,938 shares in the last quarter. Aljian Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Salesforce by 16.1% in the third quarter. Aljian Capital Management LLC now owns 13,258 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $3,629,000 after buying an additional 1,834 shares during the last quarter. AIA Group Ltd raised its stake in Salesforce by 8.9% in the third quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 24,028 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $6,577,000 after buying an additional 1,962 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Salesforce by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,780,318 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $5,395,132,000 after buying an additional 257,501 shares during the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CRM has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Cfra set a $343.00 target price on Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $290.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Salesforce from $390.00 to $440.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Salesforce from $368.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $360.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, thirty have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $376.05.

Salesforce Stock Down 2.8 %

CRM stock opened at $317.83 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 1.11. Salesforce, Inc. has a 12 month low of $212.00 and a 12 month high of $369.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $304.16 billion, a PE ratio of 52.27, a P/E/G ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 1.30. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $335.82 and its 200-day simple moving average is $289.07.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, December 3rd. The CRM provider reported $2.41 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.44 by ($0.03). Salesforce had a return on equity of 12.34% and a net margin of 15.96%. The company had revenue of $9.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.35 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.62 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 18th were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 18th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.50%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.32%.

Insider Transactions at Salesforce

In other Salesforce news, CFO Amy E. Weaver sold 897 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $285.29, for a total value of $255,905.13. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 52,930 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,100,399.70. This trade represents a 1.67 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider R David Schmaier sold 1,785 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $344.00, for a total transaction of $614,040.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 19,116 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,575,904. This represents a 8.54 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,181,817 shares of company stock worth $404,760,429 over the last ninety days. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.