Stewart & Patten Co. LLC Sells 100 Shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Stewart & Patten Co. LLC lessened its stake in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 12.9% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 673 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 100 shares during the period. Stewart & Patten Co. LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $203,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Ancora Advisors LLC raised its position in Salesforce by 22.1% in the third quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 1,287 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $261,000 after purchasing an additional 233 shares in the last quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 41.4% during the third quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 92,811 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $18,820,000 after buying an additional 27,174 shares in the last quarter. United Services Automobile Association increased its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 15.0% during the third quarter. United Services Automobile Association now owns 26,459 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $5,365,000 after buying an additional 3,460 shares in the last quarter. Hodges Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the third quarter worth approximately $203,000. Finally, Stansberry Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 18.4% during the third quarter. Stansberry Asset Management LLC now owns 16,456 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $3,337,000 after buying an additional 2,558 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently weighed in on CRM shares. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $350.00 to $300.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 30th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $350.00 to $320.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 30th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $323.00 to $260.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 30th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $360.00 to $350.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 30th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target on shares of Salesforce from $350.00 to $300.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, twenty-five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Salesforce currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $292.79.

Salesforce Stock Down 0.4 %

CRM stock traded down $0.96 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $256.14. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 5,870,518 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,977,129. 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 twelve month low of $193.68 and a twelve month high of $318.71. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $259.79 and its 200 day moving average price is $276.47. The stock has a market capitalization of $248.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.08, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.29.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 29th. The CRM provider reported $2.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.38 by $0.06. Salesforce had a net margin of 15.30% and a return on equity of 11.57%. The firm had revenue of $9.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.15 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.15 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 10.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.47 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 25th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, July 9th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.62%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is presently 7.19%.

Insider Transactions at Salesforce

In other news, insider Parker Harris sold 4,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $301.75, for a total transaction of $1,267,350.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 105,837 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,936,314.75. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, insider Srinivas Tallapragada sold 942 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.32, for a total transaction of $228,265.44. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 22,154 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,368,357.28. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Parker Harris sold 4,200 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $301.75, for a total transaction of $1,267,350.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 105,837 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $31,936,314.75. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 509,952 shares of company stock worth $139,786,753 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

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.