Maverick Capital Ltd. Sells 711 Shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Maverick Capital Ltd. decreased its stake in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 269,862 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 711 shares during the quarter. Salesforce accounts for about 1.4% of Maverick Capital Ltd.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th biggest position. Maverick Capital Ltd.’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $73,864,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Salesforce by 2.6% in the third 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 increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 2.2% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 8,329,687 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $2,141,562,000 after acquiring an additional 176,641 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 1.0% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 5,964,702 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,632,599,000 after acquiring an additional 57,825 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 1.7% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,912,854 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,618,407,000 after acquiring an additional 96,381 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 25.1% during the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,378,826 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,125,331,000 after acquiring an additional 877,495 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CRM has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. JMP Securities raised their target price on shares of Salesforce from $342.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Salesforce from $275.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Raymond James increased their price target on shares of Salesforce from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Salesforce from $320.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Northland Capmk upgraded shares of Salesforce from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Salesforce presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $341.89.

Salesforce Price Performance

NYSE CRM opened at $329.99 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $315.47 billion, a PE ratio of 57.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 1.29. Salesforce, Inc. has a 52 week low of $212.00 and a 52 week high of $348.86. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $302.12 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $270.65.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The CRM provider reported $2.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.20. Salesforce had a return on equity of 12.01% and a net margin of 15.44%. The firm had revenue of $9.33 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.22 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.63 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 8th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 18th were issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 18th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.48%. Salesforce’s payout ratio is 27.83%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Sabastian Niles sold 2,484 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $244.81, for a total transaction of $608,108.04. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 828 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $202,702.68. This represents a 75.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, COO Brian Millham sold 60,522 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total transaction of $18,156,600.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 144,510 shares of company stock worth $42,475,538. 3.20% of the stock is 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.