Stonebridge Financial Planning Group LLC Trims Holdings in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Stonebridge Financial Planning Group LLC reduced its stake in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 2.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,420 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 38 shares during the quarter. Stonebridge Financial Planning Group LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $389,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 103.5% during the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 54,761 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $16,494,000 after buying an additional 27,850 shares in the last quarter. Sax Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the first quarter valued at about $233,000. CreativeOne Wealth LLC lifted its stake in Salesforce by 180.6% in the first quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 7,520 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $2,265,000 after acquiring an additional 4,840 shares during the period. EP Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Salesforce by 20.8% during the 1st quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 26,451 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $7,967,000 after acquiring an additional 4,553 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Axxcess Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Salesforce by 21.4% during the 1st quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 13,954 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $4,203,000 after purchasing an additional 2,461 shares during the period. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CRM has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. UBS Group lifted their price target on Salesforce from $250.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on Salesforce from $285.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Salesforce from $320.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $330.00 price target (up from $300.00) on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $326.19.

Salesforce Stock Performance

Shares of CRM traded up $1.53 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $324.96. The company had a trading volume of 179,382 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,279,467. The stock has a market capitalization of $310.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 56.22, a PEG ratio of 2.94 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 stock has a 50 day moving average of $289.68 and a two-hundred day moving average of $267.31. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 28th. The CRM provider reported $2.56 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $9.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.22 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 12.01% and a net margin of 15.44%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.63 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 8th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 18th were given a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 18th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.49%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 27.83%.

Insider Transactions at Salesforce

In other news, CFO Amy E. Weaver sold 897 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $285.29, for a total transaction of $255,905.13. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 52,930 shares in the company, valued at $15,100,399.70. This trade represents a 1.67 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Parker Harris sold 3,970 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $296.74, for a total transaction of $1,178,057.80. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 119,402 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $35,431,349.48. This represents a 3.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 140,173 shares of company stock valued at $40,146,206 in the last ninety days. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Salesforce 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.