Aveo Capital Partners LLC Trims Stock Position in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Aveo Capital Partners LLC cut its stake in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 48.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 913 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 850 shares during the period. Aveo Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $254,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Insider Activity

In other Salesforce news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 2,250 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $259.67, for a total value of $584,257.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 11,955,566 shares in the company, valued at $3,104,501,823.22. This trade represents a 0.02% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Srinivas Tallapragada sold 6,697 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.00, for a total value of $1,975,615.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 41,422 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,219,490. This represents a 13.92% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 46,479 shares of company stock valued at $12,457,591. 3.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CRM has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Salesforce from $315.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. Stephens cut their price target on Salesforce from $311.00 to $309.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 30th. Mizuho cut their price target on Salesforce from $425.00 to $380.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 15th. Cantor Fitzgerald cut Salesforce from an “overweight” rating to a “cautious” rating in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and set a $370.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a report on Tuesday, June 10th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Salesforce has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $348.16.

Salesforce Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of CRM opened at $240.09 on Monday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $263.47 and a 200 day moving average of $278.75. Salesforce Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $230.00 and a fifty-two week high of $369.00. The firm has a market cap of $229.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.07.

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

Salesforce Cuts Dividend

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