Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) Shares Sold by Institute for Wealth Management LLC.

Institute for Wealth Management LLC. lowered its position in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 0.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,332 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 59 shares during the quarter. Institute for Wealth Management LLC.’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $2,773,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Tallon Kerry Patrick purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce during the 4th quarter worth approximately $236,000. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in Salesforce by 13.7% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 25,668 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $8,582,000 after buying an additional 3,102 shares in the last quarter. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA purchased a new position in Salesforce during the fourth quarter worth $104,173,000. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 12.6% in the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,827 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $611,000 after acquiring an additional 205 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the fourth quarter valued at $204,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Price Performance

Shares of CRM stock opened at $258.98 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $268.31 and a 200-day simple moving average of $298.72. The company has a market capitalization of $247.59 billion, a PE ratio of 40.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 1.38. Salesforce Inc. has a twelve month low of $230.00 and a twelve month high of $369.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

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

Salesforce Cuts Dividend

The firm 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 0.64%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is presently 25.98%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on CRM. Bank of America dropped their price objective on Salesforce from $440.00 to $400.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $425.00 to $375.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $370.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Tuesday, June 10th. Canaccord Genuity Group lowered their target price on shares of Salesforce from $400.00 to $350.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. Finally, Mizuho reduced their price target on Salesforce from $425.00 to $380.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, twenty-seven have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Salesforce has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $346.34.

Insider Buying and Selling at Salesforce

In other Salesforce news, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 1,909 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $284.58, for a total transaction of $543,263.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 11,310 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,218,599.80. This trade represents a 14.44% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider R David Schmaier sold 6,959 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $253.31, for a total transaction of $1,762,784.29. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 36,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,141,957.90. The trade was a 16.17% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 34,111 shares of company stock valued at $9,299,283 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

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.