Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC reduced its stake in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 82.4% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,391 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 11,162 shares during the quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $615,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Signature Resources Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Salesforce during the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. grew its position in Salesforce by 186.7% during the 1st quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 86 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. Piscataqua Savings Bank increased its stake in Salesforce by 2,400.0% during the 2nd quarter. Piscataqua Savings Bank now owns 100 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. Red Tortoise LLC purchased a new position in Salesforce in the first quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, Creekmur Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Salesforce in the fourth quarter worth approximately $35,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $269.32, for a total value of $4,039,800.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 12,437,327 shares in the company, valued at $3,349,620,907.64. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Salesforce news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $269.32, for a total transaction of $4,039,800.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 12,437,327 shares in the company, valued at $3,349,620,907.64. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Brian Millham sold 4,056 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $261.50, for a total value of $1,060,644.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 142,964 shares of company stock worth $35,273,059. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on CRM. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 30th. Canaccord Genuity Group lowered their price target on Salesforce from $350.00 to $300.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 30th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Salesforce from $300.00 to $250.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 30th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $345.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Finally, Macquarie dropped their price target on shares of Salesforce from $330.00 to $275.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, twenty-five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Salesforce presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $291.50.

Salesforce Price Performance

CRM traded up $5.41 during trading on Friday, reaching $264.00. 4,711,326 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,563,299. Salesforce, Inc. has a 12-month low of $193.68 and a 12-month high of $318.71. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $252.09 and a 200 day simple moving average of $272.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 1.11. The company has a market cap of $255.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.47, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.29.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 29th. The CRM provider reported $2.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.38 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $9.13 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.15 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 15.30% and a return on equity of 11.57%. Salesforce’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.15 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.47 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 25th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 9th were issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, July 9th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.61%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 28.78%.

Salesforce Company 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.