GraniteShares Advisors LLC Sells 1,536 Shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

GraniteShares Advisors LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 19.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 6,524 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 1,536 shares during the period. Salesforce comprises 1.5% of GraniteShares Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest holding. GraniteShares Advisors LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $1,717,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bear Mountain Capital Inc. bought a new position in shares of Salesforce during the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Pacifica Partners Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 333.3% during the fourth 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 position in shares of Salesforce during the fourth quarter valued at $34,000. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 30.4% during the fourth quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 270 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 63 shares during the period. Finally, Live Oak Investment Partners bought a new position in shares of Salesforce in the fourth quarter valued at about $36,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CRM has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $345.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a report on Monday. Wolfe Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $365.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a report on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley raised Salesforce from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $290.00 to $350.00 in a report on Thursday, December 21st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Salesforce from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Finally, Argus lifted their price objective on Salesforce from $290.00 to $354.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. Nine equities research 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. According to data from MarketBeat, Salesforce presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $307.87.

Salesforce Stock Up 1.7 %

NYSE CRM traded up $4.51 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $277.41. The stock had a trading volume of 7,609,935 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,727,201. Salesforce, Inc. has a 12 month low of $190.57 and a 12 month high of $318.71. The company has a market capitalization of $269.09 billion, a PE ratio of 66.40, a P/E/G ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.09. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $298.52 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $260.26.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. Salesforce had a return on equity of 10.42% and a net margin of 11.87%. The company had revenue of $9.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.22 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.01 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.45 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 0.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 13th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.52%.

Insider Activity at Salesforce

In related news, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 216 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $278.71, for a total value of $60,201.36. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 2,869 shares in the company, valued at approximately $799,618.99. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 216 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $278.71, for a total value of $60,201.36. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 2,869 shares in the company, valued at approximately $799,618.99. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Srinivas Tallapragada sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $284.11, for a total value of $2,841,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 60,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,323,891.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 897,375 shares of company stock worth $260,206,096. Company insiders own 3.70% of the company’s stock.

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.