Washington Trust Advisors Inc. Sells 599 Shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Washington Trust Advisors Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 23.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,938 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 599 shares during the quarter. Washington Trust Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $510,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Prentice Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Salesforce by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Prentice Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,294 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $604,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Legal Advantage Investments Inc. boosted its position in Salesforce by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Legal Advantage Investments Inc. now owns 5,571 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,466,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the period. Westside Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Salesforce by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,712 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,240,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. Enterprise Bank & Trust Co raised its stake in shares of Salesforce by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Enterprise Bank & Trust Co now owns 12,133 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $3,193,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fort Point Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 1.5% during the third quarter. Fort Point Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,298 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $669,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Stock Performance

Shares of CRM stock traded down $1.09 on Thursday, reaching $300.29. The stock had a trading volume of 2,337,208 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,720,507. The stock has a market cap of $291.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 71.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.09. Salesforce, Inc. has a 1 year low of $187.31 and a 1 year high of $318.71. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $293.59 and a 200 day simple moving average of $251.75.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The CRM provider reported $1.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.72 by $0.06. The business 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 business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.01 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.45 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 13th. Salesforce’s payout ratio is 9.52%.

Insider Transactions at Salesforce

In other Salesforce news, COO Brian Millham sold 293,965 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total value of $82,310,200.00. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, COO Brian Millham sold 293,965 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total transaction of $82,310,200.00. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Amy E. Weaver sold 12,249 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $264.94, for a total value of $3,245,250.06. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 37,979 shares in the company, valued at $10,062,156.26. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 898,507 shares of company stock worth $255,293,063 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 3.70% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on CRM. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Salesforce from $325.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. StockNews.com lowered Salesforce from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $285.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Oppenheimer raised their target price 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. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Salesforce from $265.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Salesforce currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $304.32.

Salesforce 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.