First United Bank & Trust Sells 64 Shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

First United Bank & Trust reduced its holdings in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 1.4% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 4,475 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 64 shares during the period. First United Bank & Trust’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $1,201,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Salesforce in the fourth quarter worth about $3,599,867,000. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main raised its holdings in Salesforce by 926.4% in the fourth quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 4,256,211 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,422,979,000 after buying an additional 3,841,521 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Salesforce by 30,456.9% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,801,588 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,020,194,000 after buying an additional 3,789,147 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Salesforce in the fourth quarter worth about $1,173,564,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 42.5% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 7,791,015 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,604,770,000 after purchasing an additional 2,325,156 shares during the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on CRM shares. Scotiabank decreased their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $400.00 to $345.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 17th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $425.00 to $375.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Guggenheim upgraded shares of Salesforce from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Macquarie restated a “neutral” rating and set a $320.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Erste Group Bank lowered shares of Salesforce from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, twenty-seven have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Salesforce has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $346.34.

Salesforce Trading Down 0.9%

Salesforce stock opened at $265.93 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick 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’s 50 day simple moving average is $267.35 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $301.22. The firm has a market cap of $254.23 billion, a PE ratio of 43.74, a P/E/G ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.38.

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

Salesforce Cuts Dividend

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

Insider Activity at Salesforce

In other news, insider R David Schmaier sold 6,959 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $253.31, for a total value of $1,762,784.29. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 36,090 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,141,957.90. This trade represents a 16.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Srinivas Tallapragada sold 6,697 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.00, for a total transaction of $1,975,615.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 41,422 shares in the company, valued at $12,219,490. The trade was a 13.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 40,332 shares of company stock worth $11,024,802 in the last three months. 3.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.