Summit Global Investments Sells 84,677 Shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Summit Global Investments trimmed its holdings in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 98.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,478 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 84,677 shares during the quarter. Summit Global Investments’ holdings in Salesforce were worth $389,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Marks Group Wealth Management Inc lifted its holdings in Salesforce by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Marks Group Wealth Management Inc now owns 35,220 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $9,268,000 after purchasing an additional 257 shares during the last quarter. Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. lifted 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 last quarter. Pure Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the 4th quarter worth $214,000. Lone Pine Capital LLC grew its stake in Salesforce by 47.5% in the 3rd 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. Finally, Blair William & Co. IL raised its holdings in Salesforce by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 821,761 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $166,637,000 after acquiring an additional 6,888 shares during the period. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 2,425 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $273.15, for a total value of $662,388.75. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 5,856 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,599,566.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 2,425 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $273.15, for a total value of $662,388.75. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 5,856 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,599,566.40. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Brian Millham sold 24,453 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $302.08, for a total transaction of $7,386,762.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 604,993 shares of company stock valued at $177,116,174 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 3.70% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CRM has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Salesforce from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Wedbush raised 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. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $350.00 price target (up from $325.00) on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Salesforce from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $345.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Nine equities research 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. According to MarketBeat, Salesforce has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $310.61.

Salesforce Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of CRM opened at $273.66 on Monday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $294.23 and its 200-day simple moving average is $267.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 1.09. Salesforce, Inc. has a one year low of $190.76 and a one year high of $318.71. The company has a market capitalization of $264.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 65.16, a PEG ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.30.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The CRM provider reported $1.78 earnings per share 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 period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.01 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared 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. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 13th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is 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.