Gryphon Financial Partners LLC Sells 879 Shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Gryphon Financial Partners LLC trimmed its stake in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 26.3% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 2,466 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 879 shares during the quarter. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $824,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in CRM. Weatherly Asset Management L. P. purchased a new stake in Salesforce during the third quarter valued at approximately $213,000. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 8,433.3% during the third quarter. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC now owns 256 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $70,000 after purchasing an additional 253 shares in the last quarter. Optas LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Optas LLC now owns 7,242 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,982,000 after purchasing an additional 107 shares during the last quarter. Janney Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Salesforce by 4.3% in the 3rd quarter. Janney Capital Management LLC now owns 1,299 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $356,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Finally, New Covenant Trust Company N.A. acquired a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the 3rd quarter worth $226,000. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Salesforce from $360.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. DA Davidson decreased their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $300.00 to $275.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Salesforce from $340.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Salesforce from $415.00 to $425.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Macquarie lowered their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $370.00 to $320.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, thirty-two have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $365.32.

Salesforce Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of CRM stock opened at $297.63 on Monday. Salesforce, Inc. has a 1-year low of $212.00 and a 1-year high of $369.00. The company has a market cap of $284.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.95, a PEG ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 1.11. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $329.11 and a 200-day simple moving average of $307.95.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted 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 return on equity of 12.34% and a net margin of 15.96%. The company had revenue of $9.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.35 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.62 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 18th were issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 18th. Salesforce’s payout ratio is 25.16%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director G Mason Morfit sold 722,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the director now owns 3,192,009 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,104,786,234.99. This represents a 18.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Miguel Milano sold 458 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was 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 directly owns 5,864 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,805,936.08. This represents a 7.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 1,102,572 shares of company stock worth $381,283,706. Corporate insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

About Salesforce

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.