Prentiss Smith & Co. Inc. Sells 643 Shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Prentiss Smith & Co. Inc. trimmed its holdings in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 3.6% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 17,175 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 643 shares during the quarter. Salesforce makes up about 3.4% of Prentiss Smith & Co. Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 12th largest position. Prentiss Smith & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $4,519,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in CRM. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 1,254.7% in the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 3,483,670 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $916,693,000 after buying an additional 3,226,512 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of 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 valued at $370,033,000 after purchasing an additional 1,400,300 shares in the last quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Salesforce by 47.5% during the third quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC now owns 2,499,630 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $506,875,000 after purchasing an additional 804,634 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in shares of Salesforce by 330.0% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 935,885 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $189,779,000 after purchasing an additional 718,245 shares in the last quarter. Finally, J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Salesforce during the third quarter valued at about $114,521,000. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Salesforce Price Performance

Shares of CRM stock traded down $3.10 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $273.09. The stock had a trading volume of 4,809,033 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,686,380. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $296.65 and its 200 day simple moving average is $263.37. 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 12 month low of $190.57 and a 12 month high of $318.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $264.90 billion, a PE ratio of 64.14, a PEG ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 1.28.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The CRM provider reported $1.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $9.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.22 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.01 earnings per share. Salesforce’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.45 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 13th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.59%. Salesforce’s payout ratio is presently 9.52%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Salesforce

In other Salesforce news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.79, for a total transaction of $4,211,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,671,166 shares in the company, valued at $3,838,726,701.14. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.79, for a total value of $4,211,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,671,166 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,838,726,701.14. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Srinivas Tallapragada sold 10,000 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction on Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $283.12, for a total transaction of $2,831,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 60,416 shares in the company, valued at $17,104,977.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 635,793 shares of company stock worth $186,389,768 over the last three months. 3.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on CRM. Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $300.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Canaccord Genuity Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $350.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Salesforce from $260.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Truist Financial reissued 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. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $345.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a report on Monday, April 15th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $310.61.

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.