First Horizon Advisors Inc. Decreases Stake in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

First Horizon Advisors Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 8.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 17,888 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 1,563 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $4,801,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Revisor Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the 1st quarter worth $6,682,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC increased its position in Salesforce by 35.6% during the first quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 827 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $222,000 after purchasing an additional 217 shares during the last quarter. Novem Group raised its stake in Salesforce by 4.7% during the first quarter. Novem Group now owns 1,117 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $300,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. Private Trust Co. NA grew its stake in shares of Salesforce by 8.8% in the 1st quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 9,344 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,508,000 after buying an additional 756 shares during the period. Finally, Mainstream Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. Mainstream Capital Management LLC now owns 6,498 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,744,000 after buying an additional 89 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Salesforce

In other news, insider Miguel Milano sold 405 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $262.35, for a total transaction of $106,251.75. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 9,933 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,605,922.55. The trade was a 3.92% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Srinivas Tallapragada sold 1,269 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $262.35, for a total transaction of $332,922.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 42,678 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,196,573.30. The trade was a 2.89% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 28,534 shares of company stock worth $7,609,842. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently weighed in on CRM. Macquarie reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $320.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Salesforce from $255.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price objective on Salesforce from $243.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. Scotiabank decreased their target price on shares of Salesforce from $400.00 to $345.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, UBS Group set a $404.00 price target on shares of Salesforce and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $349.08.

Salesforce Trading Up 0.9%

Shares of NYSE:CRM opened at $271.58 on Friday. Salesforce Inc. has a 52 week low of $230.00 and a 52 week high of $369.00. The company’s 50 day moving average is $272.21 and its two-hundred day moving average is $292.32. The company has a market cap of $259.63 billion, a PE ratio of 42.50, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.36. 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 earnings results on Wednesday, May 28th. The CRM provider reported $2.58 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.55 by $0.03. Salesforce had a return on equity of 12.94% and a net margin of 16.08%. The firm had revenue of $9.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.74 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.44 earnings per share. Salesforce’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict 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. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 18th will be issued a $0.416 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 18th. This represents a $1.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.61%. Salesforce’s 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.