VeraBank N.A. Reduces Position in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

VeraBank N.A. trimmed its holdings in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 1.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 7,113 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 84 shares during the quarter. VeraBank N.A.’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $1,909,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Coign Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 1.7% during the first quarter. Coign Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,183 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $586,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Liberty One Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 1.2% during the first quarter. Liberty One Investment Management LLC now owns 3,165 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $849,000 after acquiring an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. First Command Advisory Services Inc. increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 7.3% during the first quarter. First Command Advisory Services Inc. now owns 572 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $154,000 after acquiring an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. Mendel Money Management increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 3.6% during the first quarter. Mendel Money Management now owns 1,112 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $298,000 after acquiring an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clarity Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 2.3% during the first quarter. Clarity Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,760 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $472,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Salesforce news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 2,250 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $252.42, for a total value of $567,945.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 11,911,571 shares in the company, valued at $3,006,718,751.82. This represents a 0.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders sold 44,229 shares of company stock valued at $11,898,691 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on CRM shares. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Salesforce from $255.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $400.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Salesforce from $315.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on Salesforce from $350.00 to $335.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, DA Davidson reissued an “underperform” rating and issued a $200.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $348.16.

Salesforce Stock Performance

Shares of CRM stock opened at $248.87 on Thursday. Salesforce Inc. has a 12-month low of $230.00 and a 12-month high of $369.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $237.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.37. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $264.50 and a 200 day simple moving average of $280.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 1.07.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 28th. The CRM provider reported $2.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.55 by $0.03. The firm 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.44 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 10th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 18th were given a $0.416 dividend. This represents a $1.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 18th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is 25.98%.

Salesforce Company 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.