Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC Cuts Position in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC decreased its position in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 10.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 23,479 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 2,704 shares during the quarter. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $7,850,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CRM. Veritas Asset Management LLP purchased a new stake in Salesforce in the third quarter valued at approximately $733,805,000. Jennison Associates LLC increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 52.7% during the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 4,433,785 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,482,347,000 after acquiring an additional 1,530,572 shares during the period. Swedbank AB increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 46.7% during the fourth quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 3,829,773 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,280,408,000 after acquiring an additional 1,219,254 shares during the period. KBC Group NV increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 171.2% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,634,834 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $447,470,000 after acquiring an additional 1,032,068 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 23,664.2% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,002,848 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $274,490,000 after acquiring an additional 998,628 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CRM has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Macquarie reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $370.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. TD Cowen raised Salesforce from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $380.00 to $400.00 in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $405.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $400.00 target price (up previously from $380.00) on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Salesforce from $300.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, thirty-one have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $377.63.

Insider Buying and Selling at Salesforce

In other Salesforce news, CFO Amy E. Weaver sold 6,221 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $329.88, for a total value of $2,052,183.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 45,861 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,128,626.68. This trade represents a 11.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $335.94, for a total transaction of $167,970.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 6,557 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,202,758.58. This trade represents a 7.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 1,111,420 shares of company stock valued at $384,366,700. Corporate insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Trading Down 1.3 %

NYSE CRM opened at $325.49 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $311.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.53, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 1.31. Salesforce, Inc. has a 52-week low of $212.00 and a 52-week high of $369.00. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $336.56 and a 200 day moving average price of $302.79. The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

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

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 18th were issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 18th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.32%.

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.