CX Institutional Has $1.55 Million Stock Position in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

CX Institutional decreased its stake in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 1.2% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 5,785 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 73 shares during the period. CX Institutional’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $1,552,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in shares of Salesforce by 47.1% in the first quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 362,868 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $97,379,000 after acquiring an additional 116,165 shares during the last quarter. Kozak & Associates Inc. grew its stake in shares of Salesforce by 1.6% in the first quarter. Kozak & Associates Inc. now owns 2,571 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $654,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Salesforce by 5.3% in the first quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 10,747 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $2,884,000 after acquiring an additional 542 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC grew its stake in shares of Salesforce by 10.5% in the first quarter. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC now owns 83,448 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $22,394,000 after acquiring an additional 7,925 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Integrated Advisors Network LLC grew its stake in shares of Salesforce by 24.3% in the first quarter. Integrated Advisors Network LLC now owns 14,311 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $3,841,000 after acquiring an additional 2,800 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $320.00 to $295.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 30th. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Salesforce from $425.00 to $347.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on shares of Salesforce from $425.00 to $375.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Canaccord Genuity Group decreased their price target on shares of Salesforce from $400.00 to $350.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on shares of Salesforce from $425.00 to $375.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, twenty-seven have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $346.34.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Salesforce news, CEO Brian Millham sold 3,937 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $284.58, for a total transaction of $1,120,391.46. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 5,518 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,570,312.44. The trade was a 41.64% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.00, for a total value of $137,500.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 11,711 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,220,525. This represents a 4.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 40,332 shares of company stock valued at $11,024,802. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Salesforce Stock Performance

Salesforce stock opened at $265.93 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $267.35 and a 200 day simple moving average of $301.22. The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. Salesforce, Inc. has a 12-month low of $227.77 and a 12-month high of $369.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $254.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.74, a P/E/G ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.38.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 28th. The CRM provider reported $2.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.55 by $0.03. Salesforce had a return on equity of 12.34% and a net margin of 15.96%. The business had revenue of $9.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.74 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.44 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 10th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.416 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 18th. This represents a $1.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.63%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is currently 25.98%.

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.