Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) Holdings Reduced by Nicolet Advisory Services LLC

Nicolet Advisory Services LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 0.8% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 5,026 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 39 shares during the period. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $1,412,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Legal & General Group Plc raised its position in Salesforce by 2.2% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 8,329,687 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,141,562,000 after buying an additional 176,641 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in Salesforce by 1.0% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 5,964,702 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,632,599,000 after acquiring an additional 57,825 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Salesforce by 1.7% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,912,854 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,618,407,000 after purchasing an additional 96,381 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 25.1% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,378,826 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,125,331,000 after acquiring an additional 877,495 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ValueAct Holdings L.P. raised its holdings in Salesforce by 12.3% in the 2nd quarter. ValueAct Holdings L.P. now owns 3,914,309 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,006,369,000 after acquiring an additional 428,000 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Stock Up 1.9 %

CRM stock opened at $342.12 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $327.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 59.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 1.29. Salesforce, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $212.00 and a fifty-two week high of $348.86. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $294.61 and its 200 day simple moving average is $268.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.04.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 28th. The CRM provider reported $2.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.20. Salesforce had a net margin of 15.44% and a return on equity of 12.01%. The firm had revenue of $9.33 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.22 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.63 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 8th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 18th were issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 18th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.47%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is presently 27.83%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Brian Millham sold 14,808 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $338.95, for a total value of $5,019,171.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Parker Harris sold 3,528 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.59, for a total transaction of $884,081.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 117,581 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,464,622.79. The trade was a 2.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 147,991 shares of company stock valued at $43,333,238 in the last three months. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CRM has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Cfra set a $343.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Salesforce from $310.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Salesforce from $275.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday. Wedbush upped their price target on Salesforce from $315.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $336.37.

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.