Activest Wealth Management Lowers Stake in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Activest Wealth Management decreased its position in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 65.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 269 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 499 shares during the quarter. Activest Wealth Management’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $74,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. EP Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake 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 buying an additional 4,553 shares during the period. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Salesforce by 21.4% in the first quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 13,954 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $4,203,000 after acquiring an additional 2,461 shares in the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Salesforce by 25.8% in the first quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 16,227 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $4,887,000 after purchasing an additional 3,327 shares during the period. Cadence Bank purchased a new stake in Salesforce during the 1st quarter worth about $202,000. Finally, JT Stratford LLC raised its position in Salesforce by 54.9% in the 1st quarter. JT Stratford LLC now owns 2,641 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $795,000 after purchasing an additional 936 shares in the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Salesforce

In other news, COO Brian Millham sold 60,522 shares of Salesforce 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 413 shares of the company’s 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 $1,998,741.74. The trade was a 5.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 136,117 shares of company stock valued at $39,085,562 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on CRM. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on Salesforce from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 26th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. TD Cowen raised their price target on Salesforce from $285.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Salesforce from $275.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $326.19.

Salesforce Price Performance

CRM stock traded up $5.08 during trading on Thursday, reaching $330.78. 552,789 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,269,986. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.04. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $291.21 and its 200 day moving average price is $267.72. Salesforce, Inc. has a 52-week low of $212.00 and a 52-week high of $348.86. The company has a market cap of $316.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 56.64, a PEG ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 1.29.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The CRM provider reported $2.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $9.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.22 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 12.01% and a net margin of 15.44%. The company’s 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. As a group, analysts predict that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 8th. Stockholders 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.48%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is presently 27.83%.

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.