Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. Cuts Position in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. trimmed its holdings in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 6.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,187 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 77 shares during the quarter. Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC.’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $384,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of CRM. Smith Salley Wealth Management boosted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 8.3% in the 4th quarter. Smith Salley Wealth Management now owns 5,442 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,820,000 after buying an additional 418 shares during the last quarter. Jackson Square Capital LLC raised its position in Salesforce by 41.0% in the fourth quarter. Jackson Square Capital LLC now owns 1,148 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $384,000 after acquiring an additional 334 shares during the period. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in Salesforce by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC now owns 7,588 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,537,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 11.1% during the 4th quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 26,718 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $8,934,000 after acquiring an additional 2,674 shares during the period. Finally, Trust Co. of Vermont increased its stake in shares of Salesforce by 17.1% during the 4th quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 44,008 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $14,713,000 after purchasing an additional 6,433 shares during the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Salesforce Trading Up 1.5 %

CRM stock opened at $324.77 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $310.81 billion, a PE ratio of 53.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.30. 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, Inc. has a one year low of $212.00 and a one year high of $369.00. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $337.31 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $291.56.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, December 3rd. The CRM provider reported $2.41 EPS 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 business had revenue of $9.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.35 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.62 EPS. Salesforce’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 18th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, December 18th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. Salesforce’s payout ratio is 26.32%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Salesforce news, insider Parker Harris sold 4,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $288.82, for a total value of $1,213,044.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 118,514 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $34,229,213.48. This trade represents a 3.42 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Marc Benioff sold 317,105 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $346.78, for a total transaction of $109,965,671.90. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 12,162,457 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,217,696,838.46. This trade represents a 2.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,183,838 shares of company stock valued at $405,595,158 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on CRM shares. Citigroup upped their price objective on Salesforce from $368.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Barclays increased their price target on Salesforce from $415.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. KeyCorp upgraded Salesforce from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $440.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $390.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their target price on shares of Salesforce from $425.00 to $440.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, thirty-one have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Salesforce has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $377.63.

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.