Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC Sells 1,276,395 Shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC trimmed its stake in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 76.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 390,942 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 1,276,395 shares during the period. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $104,913,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of CRM. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Salesforce during the 1st quarter valued at $2,039,196,000. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main grew its stake in Salesforce by 926.4% during the 4th quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 4,256,211 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,422,979,000 after buying an additional 3,841,521 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in Salesforce by 30,456.9% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,801,588 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,020,194,000 after buying an additional 3,789,147 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in Salesforce by 18.3% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 11,224,927 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $3,752,830,000 after buying an additional 1,736,667 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Salesforce by 1,744.0% during the 1st quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,820,262 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $488,486,000 after purchasing an additional 1,721,550 shares during the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Salesforce Trading Up 2.4%

Shares of CRM opened at $237.14 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $261.72 and a two-hundred day moving average of $277.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.07. The company has a market capitalization of $226.71 billion, a PE ratio of 37.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.37. Salesforce Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $226.48 and a fifty-two week high of $369.00.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 28th. The CRM provider reported $2.58 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $9.83 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.74 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.44 EPS. Salesforce’s revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Cuts Dividend

The business 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Salesforce’s payout ratio is currently 25.98%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 2,250 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $236.45, for a total transaction of $532,012.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 11,911,571 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,816,490,962.95. The trade was a 0.02% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 44,282 shares of company stock worth $11,554,754. 3.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have weighed in on CRM shares. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $400.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $275.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on Salesforce from $375.00 to $325.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Salesforce from $340.00 to $385.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 29th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald downgraded Salesforce from an “overweight” rating to a “cautious” rating in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, twenty-seven have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $346.84.

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.