Beck Bode LLC Sells 309 Shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Beck Bode LLC lowered its stake in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 4.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,405 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 309 shares during the quarter. Beck Bode LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $1,949,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Marks Group Wealth Management Inc raised its stake in shares of Salesforce by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Marks Group Wealth Management Inc now owns 35,220 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $9,268,000 after buying an additional 257 shares during the period. Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. raised its stake in shares of Salesforce by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. now owns 7,881 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $2,206,000 after buying an additional 105 shares during the period. Pure Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Salesforce in the fourth quarter worth about $214,000. Lone Pine Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Salesforce by 47.5% in the third quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC now owns 2,499,630 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $506,875,000 after buying an additional 804,634 shares during the period. Finally, Vicus Capital raised its stake in shares of Salesforce by 153.2% in the third quarter. Vicus Capital now owns 2,575 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $522,000 after buying an additional 1,558 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Salesforce news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.95, for a total value of $4,244,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,626,166 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,855,523,669.70. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, CFO Amy E. Weaver sold 942 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $305.46, for a total value of $287,743.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 39,416 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,040,011.36. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.95, for a total value of $4,244,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,626,166 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,855,523,669.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 625,793 shares of company stock worth $183,318,868. 3.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on CRM. Wolfe Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $365.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. KeyCorp assumed coverage on Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. They set a “sector weight” rating on the stock. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Salesforce from $325.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Salesforce from $260.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $350.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $310.61.

Salesforce Trading Down 2.5 %

CRM traded down $6.80 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $268.94. 5,211,266 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,632,453. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $295.34 and a 200 day moving average price of $265.65. Salesforce, Inc. has a 52-week low of $190.76 and a 52-week high of $318.71. The company has a quick ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $260.87 billion, a PE ratio of 64.03, a PEG ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 1.28.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The CRM provider reported $1.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.72 by $0.06. Salesforce had a return on equity of 10.42% and a net margin of 11.87%. The business had revenue of $9.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.22 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.01 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 13th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is 9.52%.

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.