Whitaker Myers Wealth Managers LTD. Sells 117 Shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Whitaker Myers Wealth Managers LTD. trimmed its position in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 15.7% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 626 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 117 shares during the quarter. Whitaker Myers Wealth Managers LTD.’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $209,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 1.8% during 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 during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 1.3% during 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 during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 2.6% during 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 during the period. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 2.2% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 8,329,687 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,141,562,000 after buying an additional 176,641 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 1.0% during 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 during the period. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CRM has been the subject of several analyst reports. Cfra set a $343.00 price objective on Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Northland Securities restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $440.00 price objective (up from $400.00) on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Scotiabank upped their price objective on Salesforce from $425.00 to $440.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $415.00 price objective (up from $385.00) on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded Salesforce from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $380.00 to $400.00 in a research note on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, thirty-one have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $377.63.

Salesforce Stock Up 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE CRM opened at $324.77 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. The company has a market cap of $310.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.42, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.30. Salesforce, Inc. has a 1 year low of $212.00 and a 1 year high of $369.00. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $337.31 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $291.56.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, December 3rd. The CRM provider reported $2.41 earnings per share (EPS) 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 firm had revenue of $9.44 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.35 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.62 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 18th were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 18th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is presently 26.32%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Miguel Milano sold 719 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $342.81, for a total transaction of $246,480.39. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 4,659 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,597,151.79. This trade represents a 13.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 413 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $285.29, for a total transaction of $117,824.77. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 7,006 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,998,741.74. The trade was a 5.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 1,183,838 shares of company stock valued at $405,595,158. Corporate 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.