Marietta Wealth Management LLC Lowers Stock Position in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Marietta Wealth Management LLC lowered its position in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 1.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 25,057 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 363 shares during the period. Marietta Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $6,593,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in CRM. Bear Mountain Capital Inc. purchased a new position in Salesforce in the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Pacifica Partners Inc. grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 333.3% during the 4th quarter. Pacifica Partners Inc. now owns 130 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. BKM Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Salesforce by 30.4% in the fourth quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 270 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 63 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Live Oak Investment Partners bought a new position in Salesforce during the fourth quarter valued at $36,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $274.01, for a total transaction of $4,110,150.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 13,761,166 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,770,697,095.66. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, COO Brian Millham sold 293,965 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total transaction of $82,310,200.00. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $274.01, for a total transaction of $4,110,150.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,761,166 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,770,697,095.66. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 897,375 shares of company stock valued at $260,206,096. Corporate insiders own 3.70% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on CRM. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $350.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $350.00 price target (up from $325.00) on shares of Salesforce in a report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Salesforce from $260.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. StockNews.com downgraded Salesforce from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. Finally, Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $360.00 price target (up from $275.00) on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $307.87.

Salesforce Trading Up 2.0 %

Salesforce stock traded up $5.43 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $278.33. The stock had a trading volume of 3,596,244 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,670,159. The stock has a market cap of $269.98 billion, a PE ratio of 65.44, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.28. Salesforce, Inc. has a 52 week low of $190.57 and a 52 week high of $318.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 1.09. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $298.52 and a 200-day simple moving average of $260.26.

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

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.57%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 13th. Salesforce’s payout ratio is 9.52%.

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.