First Bancorp Inc ME Has $1.01 Million Stake in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

First Bancorp Inc ME reduced its position in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 3.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,027 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 97 shares during the quarter. First Bancorp Inc ME’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $1,012,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Veritas Asset Management LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the third quarter worth $733,805,000. KBC Group NV increased its position in Salesforce by 171.2% in the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,634,834 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $447,470,000 after purchasing an additional 1,032,068 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in Salesforce by 23,664.2% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,002,848 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $274,490,000 after purchasing an additional 998,628 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 49,007,404 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $13,432,855,000 after buying an additional 864,193 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in shares of Salesforce by 95.7% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,624,520 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $462,063,000 after buying an additional 794,506 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Price Performance

Shares of Salesforce stock opened at $333.47 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $319.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 1.30. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $336.73 and its 200-day simple moving average is $294.01. Salesforce, Inc. has a twelve month low of $212.00 and a twelve month high of $369.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 1.11.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, December 3rd. The CRM provider reported $2.41 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.44 by ($0.03). Salesforce had a net margin of 15.96% and a return on equity of 12.34%. The company had revenue of $9.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.35 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.62 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 18th were issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 18th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.48%. Salesforce’s payout ratio is presently 26.32%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CRM has been the topic of several recent research reports. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $400.00 price objective (up previously from $380.00) on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $405.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Salesforce from $368.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Macquarie reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $370.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, KeyCorp raised Salesforce from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $440.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, December 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, thirty-one have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $377.63.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Brian Millham sold 60,522 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total transaction of $18,156,600.00. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Parker Harris sold 4,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $298.04, for a total transaction of $1,251,768.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 119,402 shares in the company, valued at approximately $35,586,572.08. The trade was a 3.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 1,173,891 shares of company stock worth $402,840,388. Corporate insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

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.