Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA Decreases Stock Holdings in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA lowered its stake in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 0.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 469,853 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 4,473 shares during the period. Salesforce comprises 1.3% of Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA’s portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest holding. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $132,071,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CRM. Cerity Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Salesforce by 1,254.7% during the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 3,483,670 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $916,693,000 after buying an additional 3,226,512 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Salesforce by 23,653.7% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,406,220 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $370,033,000 after buying an additional 1,400,300 shares in the last quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Salesforce by 47.5% during the third quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC now owns 2,499,630 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $506,875,000 after buying an additional 804,634 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in Salesforce by 330.0% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 935,885 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $189,779,000 after buying an additional 718,245 shares in the last quarter. Finally, J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Salesforce during the third quarter worth about $114,521,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Argus lifted their target price on shares of Salesforce from $290.00 to $354.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of Salesforce from $290.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $342.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on shares of Salesforce from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Salesforce from $325.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Salesforce presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $310.61.

Salesforce Trading Up 1.3 %

CRM traded up $3.46 during trading on Monday, hitting $273.83. 6,741,842 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,712,625. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. Salesforce, Inc. has a 1 year low of $190.57 and a 1 year high of $318.71. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $297.00 and a 200 day moving average price of $262.79. The firm has a market cap of $265.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 65.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 1.28.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 28th. The CRM provider reported $1.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.72 by $0.06. Salesforce had a net margin of 11.87% and a return on equity of 10.42%. The company had revenue of $9.29 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.22 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.01 earnings per share. Salesforce’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 13th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.58%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.52%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.94, for a total value of $4,064,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 12,827,327 shares in the company, valued at $3,475,435,977.38. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.94, for a total value of $4,064,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 12,827,327 shares in the company, valued at $3,475,435,977.38. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 216 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $278.71, for a total transaction of $60,201.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 2,869 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $799,618.99. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 596,595 shares of company stock worth $175,648,172. 3.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.