Meridian Management Co. Lowers Stock Position in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Meridian Management Co. trimmed its holdings in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 5.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 19,933 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 1,089 shares during the period. Salesforce comprises 1.7% of Meridian Management Co.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest holding. Meridian Management Co.’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $5,349,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of CRM. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,955,353 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $6,656,078,000 after acquiring an additional 175,035 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in Salesforce by 18.3% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 11,224,927 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $3,752,830,000 after purchasing an additional 1,736,667 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in Salesforce by 23.2% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,938,536 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $2,988,422,000 after purchasing an additional 1,683,233 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its holdings in Salesforce by 7.5% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 8,658,132 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,894,673,000 after purchasing an additional 602,445 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 8,598,989 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,874,900,000 after buying an additional 114,278 shares in the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $243.00 to $255.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on shares of Salesforce from $350.00 to $335.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Canaccord Genuity Group cut their price objective on Salesforce from $400.00 to $350.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. Barclays reduced their target price on Salesforce from $425.00 to $347.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price target on Salesforce from $315.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, twenty-seven have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Salesforce currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $348.16.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Salesforce news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 2,250 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $271.69, for a total value of $611,302.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 11,862,457 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,222,910,942.33. This represents a 0.02% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Srinivas Tallapragada sold 6,697 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $295.00, for a total value of $1,975,615.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 41,422 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,219,490. This represents a 13.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 33,479 shares of company stock worth $9,091,796. Corporate insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of NYSE CRM opened at $269.11 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $268.07 and a 200 day moving average price of $283.68. 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 Inc. has a 12-month low of $230.00 and a 12-month high of $369.00. The company has a market cap of $257.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.11, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.36.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 28th. The CRM provider reported $2.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.55 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $9.83 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.74 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 12.94% and a net margin of 16.08%. The company’s revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.44 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 10th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 18th were paid a dividend of $0.416 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 18th. This represents a $1.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.62%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.