Caprock Group LLC Decreases Position in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Caprock Group LLC reduced its stake in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 33,142 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 429 shares during the quarter. Caprock Group LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $9,085,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in shares of Salesforce by 26.9% during the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 14,376,536 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $4,329,925,000 after purchasing an additional 3,044,611 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its stake in Salesforce by 3.0% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 14,116,449 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $4,251,592,000 after buying an additional 407,834 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its position in Salesforce by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 8,329,687 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,141,562,000 after buying an additional 176,641 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in shares of Salesforce by 48.3% during the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 5,906,877 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,518,658,000 after acquiring an additional 1,922,674 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 during the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Salesforce

In related news, insider Miguel Milano sold 2,934 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $262.95, for a total transaction of $771,495.30. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 3,716 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $977,122.20. The trade was a 44.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Parker Harris sold 3,970 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $296.74, for a total transaction of $1,178,057.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 119,402 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $35,431,349.48. This trade represents a 3.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 140,173 shares of company stock worth $40,146,206. Company insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on CRM. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Salesforce from $275.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Phillip Securities reiterated an “accumulate” rating and set a $305.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Friday, August 30th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price 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. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Salesforce from $320.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Salesforce from $305.00 to $385.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $325.36.

Salesforce Trading Down 0.9 %

Salesforce stock opened at $322.25 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $308.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 56.04, a PEG ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 1.29. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $288.14 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $266.96. Salesforce, Inc. has a one year low of $212.00 and a one year high of $348.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 1.04.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The CRM provider reported $2.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analysts’ expectations of $9.22 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.63 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

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. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 18th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.