Locust Wood Capital Advisers LLC Cuts Position in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)
Locust Wood Capital Advisers LLC cut its stake in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM – Free Report) by 22.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 220,945 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 63,042 shares during the quarter. Salesforce comprises about 2.2% of Locust Wood Capital Advisers LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 23rd largest position. Locust Wood Capital Advisers LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $58,139,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.
Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Cerity Partners LLC increased its position in Salesforce by 1,254.7% during the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 3,483,670 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $916,693,000 after purchasing an additional 3,226,512 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 23,653.7% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,406,220 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $370,033,000 after buying an additional 1,400,300 shares in the last quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC raised its position 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 valued at $506,875,000 after buying an additional 804,634 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 14,921,042 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $3,926,323,000 after buying an additional 752,566 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in Salesforce by 330.0% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 935,885 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $189,779,000 after acquiring an additional 718,245 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other 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 stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $315.54, for a total transaction of $4,733,100.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,311,166 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,200,205,319.64. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, insider Parker Harris sold 4,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.93, for a total value of $1,137,906.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 115,762 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $31,363,398.66. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.54, for a total value of $4,733,100.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,311,166 shares in the company, valued at $4,200,205,319.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 624,193 shares of company stock valued at $182,005,898 over the last three months. 3.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
CRM has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wolfe Research reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $365.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Canaccord Genuity Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $350.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, March 7th. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Salesforce from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Citigroup upped their price objective on Salesforce from $265.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 26th. Finally, Wedbush lifted their target price on Salesforce from $280.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $310.61.
Check Out Our Latest Report on Salesforce
Salesforce Price Performance
NYSE CRM traded up $1.50 on Friday, reaching $276.67. 2,897,916 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,464,795. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $292.20 and its 200 day simple moving average is $268.12. 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 company has a market cap of $267.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 65.84, a P/E/G ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.30. Salesforce, Inc. has a 12 month low of $193.68 and a 12 month high of $318.71.
Salesforce (NYSE:CRM – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 28th. The CRM provider reported $1.78 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.72 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $9.29 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.22 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 10.42% and a net margin of 11.87%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.01 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Salesforce Dividend Announcement
The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.58%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 13th. Salesforce’s 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.
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