Sand Hill Global Advisors LLC Sells 547 Shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Sand Hill Global Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 1.4% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 38,727 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 547 shares during the period. Sand Hill Global Advisors LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $10,191,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Salesforce in the fourth quarter valued at about $2,762,331,000. Cerity Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Salesforce by 1,254.7% during the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 3,483,670 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $916,693,000 after purchasing an additional 3,226,512 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Salesforce by 23,653.7% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,406,220 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $370,033,000 after purchasing an additional 1,400,300 shares during the period. Lone Pine Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Salesforce by 47.5% during the third quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC now owns 2,499,630 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $506,875,000 after purchasing an additional 804,634 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its position in Salesforce by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 14,921,042 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $3,926,323,000 after buying an additional 752,566 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Salesforce news, CFO Amy E. Weaver sold 942 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $305.46, for a total value of $287,743.32. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 39,416 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,040,011.36. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Salesforce news, CFO Amy E. Weaver sold 942 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $305.46, for a total value of $287,743.32. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 39,416 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,040,011.36. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Srinivas Tallapragada sold 2,474 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $295.59, for a total value of $731,289.66. Following the sale, the insider now owns 60,416 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,858,365.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 640,499 shares of company stock worth $186,305,734 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Price Performance

Shares of Salesforce stock traded up $0.06 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $283.82. 3,305,869 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,311,462. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.09. Salesforce, Inc. has a 1-year low of $193.68 and a 1-year high of $318.71. The company has a market cap of $274.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 68.04, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.30. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $288.30 and its 200 day moving average price is $273.61.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 28th. The CRM provider reported $1.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.72 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $9.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.22 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 10.42% and a net margin of 11.87%. Salesforce’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.01 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 13th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.56%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.52%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CRM has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $345.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Canaccord Genuity Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $350.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Salesforce from $310.00 to $355.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Argus raised their price target on Salesforce from $290.00 to $354.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on Salesforce from $265.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 26th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $310.61.

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.