Bank of New York Mellon Corp Reduces Position in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Bank of New York Mellon Corp cut its holdings in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 3.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 6,353,657 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 256,862 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $2,124,218,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 1.8% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 49,007,404 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $13,432,855,000 after acquiring an additional 864,193 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Salesforce by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,780,318 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $5,395,132,000 after purchasing an additional 257,501 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Salesforce by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 12,276,551 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $3,360,215,000 after purchasing an additional 314,530 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 1.0% during 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 purchasing an additional 57,825 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 96,381 shares during the period. 80.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CRM has been the topic of several analyst reports. Citigroup raised their target price on Salesforce from $368.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Loop Capital lowered their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $360.00 to $330.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Salesforce from $390.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Northland Securities reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $440.00 price target (up previously from $400.00) on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $450.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, thirty-two have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $375.53.

Salesforce Stock Down 0.5 %

Salesforce stock opened at $308.27 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $295.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.70, a P/E/G ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $332.36 and a 200-day simple moving average of $306.60. Salesforce, Inc. has a one year low of $212.00 and a one year 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 posted its earnings results on Tuesday, December 3rd. The CRM provider reported $2.41 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.44 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $9.44 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.35 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 12.34% and a net margin of 15.96%. Salesforce’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.62 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 18th were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 18th. Salesforce’s payout ratio is currently 26.32%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director G Mason Morfit sold 722,300 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $346.11, for a total transaction of $249,995,253.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 3,192,009 shares in the company, valued at $1,104,786,234.99. The trade was a 18.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Miguel Milano sold 458 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.97, for a total transaction of $141,050.26. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 5,864 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,805,936.08. This represents a 7.24 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 1,102,572 shares of company stock worth $381,283,706. 3.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.