Bigelow Investment Advisors LLC Decreases Stock Position in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Bigelow Investment Advisors LLC cut its stake in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 6.1% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,660 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 108 shares during the period. Bigelow Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $445,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of CRM. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. purchased a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Accredited Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Salesforce during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Salesforce in the 4th quarter worth about $35,000. Wood Tarver Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Salesforce in the fourth quarter worth about $35,000. Finally, VSM Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new stake in Salesforce in the fourth quarter worth about $45,000. 80.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CRM has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on Salesforce from $425.00 to $375.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on Salesforce from $400.00 to $345.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 17th. Bank of America reduced their target price on Salesforce from $440.00 to $400.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on Salesforce from $430.00 to $400.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada cut shares of Salesforce from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $420.00 to $275.00 in a report on Thursday, May 29th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, twenty-seven have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $346.34.

Insider Activity

In other Salesforce news, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 500 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 11,711 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,220,525. This trade represents a 4.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Parker Harris sold 3,273 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $284.58, for a total value of $931,430.34. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 125,146 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $35,614,048.68. This represents a 2.55% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 34,111 shares of company stock worth $9,299,283. Insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Stock Performance

Shares of Salesforce stock opened at $258.98 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $247.59 billion, a PE ratio of 40.53, a P/E/G ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $268.31 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $298.72. Salesforce Inc. has a one year low of $230.00 and a one year high of $369.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.07.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 28th. The CRM provider reported $2.58 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.55 by $0.03. Salesforce had a net margin of 16.08% and a return on equity of 12.94%. The firm had revenue of $9.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.74 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.44 EPS. Salesforce’s revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 10th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.416 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 18th. This represents a $1.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.64%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is presently 25.98%.

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.