Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc. Cuts Stock Holdings in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc. lessened its holdings in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 2.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 32,785 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 681 shares during the period. Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $9,874,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Bear Mountain Capital Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Signature Resources Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Salesforce in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. raised its holdings in Salesforce by 186.7% in the first quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 86 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, Red Tortoise LLC bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the 1st quarter valued at about $33,000. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director G Mason Morfit acquired 428,000 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 3rd. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $233.17 per share, with a total value of $99,796,760.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 3,914,309 shares in the company, valued at $912,699,429.53. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $216.66, for a total transaction of $3,249,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 12,407,327 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,688,171,467.82. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director G Mason Morfit purchased 428,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 3rd. The stock was bought at an average price of $233.17 per share, with a total value of $99,796,760.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,914,309 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $912,699,429.53. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 403,578 shares of company stock worth $108,177,539. Corporate insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $330.00 to $285.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Macquarie reduced their price target on Salesforce from $330.00 to $275.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Citigroup lowered their price objective on Salesforce from $323.00 to $260.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Wedbush reduced their target price on Salesforce from $325.00 to $315.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 29th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target on Salesforce from $350.00 to $300.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, twenty-five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $292.79.

Salesforce Price Performance

Shares of Salesforce stock traded down $3.94 on Thursday, reaching $247.28. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 6,350,570 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,876,701. The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The company has a market capitalization of $239.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.47, a PEG ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.29. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $254.44 and a 200-day moving average price of $275.44. Salesforce, Inc. has a 52-week low of $193.68 and a 52-week high of $318.71.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 29th. The CRM provider reported $2.44 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.38 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $9.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.15 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 15.30% and a return on equity of 11.57%. The firm’s revenue was up 10.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.15 EPS. Analysts expect that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.47 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 25th. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 9th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, July 9th. Salesforce’s payout ratio is 28.78%.

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.