Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. Decreases Stake in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. reduced its holdings in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 22.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,272 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 1,567 shares during the period. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd.’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $1,399,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 0.9% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 45,509,345 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $9,091,832,000 after buying an additional 391,648 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 19,003,836 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $2,519,719,000 after buying an additional 149,012 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 1.1% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 11,195,108 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $2,270,144,000 after buying an additional 121,436 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce in the fourth quarter worth about $1,420,381,000. Finally, Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 125,717.4% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 10,260,412 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,360,428,000 after buying an additional 10,252,257 shares in the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CRM has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. JMP Securities raised their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $293.00 to $342.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and set a $350.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $260.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Salesforce from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $290.00 to $350.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 21st. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $306.26.

Insider Transactions at Salesforce

In other news, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 216 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $278.71, for a total transaction of $60,201.36. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 2,869 shares in the company, valued at approximately $799,618.99. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 216 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $278.71, for a total transaction of $60,201.36. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 2,869 shares in the company, valued at approximately $799,618.99. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Brian Millham sold 393 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total transaction of $110,040.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 907,375 shares of company stock worth $262,519,346. 3.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Salesforce Stock Down 1.6 %

Shares of Salesforce stock opened at $294.32 on Monday. Salesforce, Inc. has a 52-week low of $190.45 and a 52-week high of $318.71. The company has a 50 day moving average of $298.82 and a 200 day moving average of $259.77. 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 capitalization of $285.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 70.08, a P/E/G ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.28.

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

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 13th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.54%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.52%.

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.