L & S Advisors Inc Trims Stock Position in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

L & S Advisors Inc trimmed its holdings in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 57.4% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 7,891 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 10,612 shares during the period. L & S Advisors Inc’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $2,029,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Salesforce by 44.0% during the second quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 20,091 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $5,166,000 after buying an additional 6,137 shares in the last quarter. Perennial Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in Salesforce by 3.2% during the 2nd quarter. Perennial Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,761 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $967,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. EPIQ Capital Group LLC increased its position in Salesforce by 7.8% during the 2nd quarter. EPIQ Capital Group LLC now owns 3,034 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $780,000 after purchasing an additional 219 shares in the last quarter. Conscious Wealth Investments LLC raised its stake in Salesforce by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Conscious Wealth Investments LLC now owns 9,992 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,558,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Primecap Management Co. CA lifted its holdings in Salesforce by 64.6% in the 2nd quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 508,600 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $130,761,000 after purchasing an additional 199,700 shares in the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on CRM. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $250.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Evercore ISI reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Bank of America reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $325.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Friday, September 6th. Roth Mkm reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $335.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, FBN Securities upgraded Salesforce to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Salesforce currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $305.55.

Salesforce Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE CRM opened at $256.81 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $248.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.29. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $253.55 and its 200 day simple moving average is $267.55. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. Salesforce, Inc. has a 12-month low of $193.68 and a 12-month high of $318.71.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The CRM provider reported $2.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $9.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.22 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 12.01% and a net margin of 15.44%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.63 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.55 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 8th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 18th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.62%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 18th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.78%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Srinivas Tallapragada sold 942 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.32, for a total value of $228,265.44. Following the sale, the insider now owns 22,154 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,368,357.28. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, insider Srinivas Tallapragada sold 942 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.32, for a total value of $228,265.44. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 22,154 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,368,357.28. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Amy E. Weaver sold 897 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.78, for a total transaction of $229,434.66. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 51,109 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,072,660.02. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 62,376 shares of company stock worth $15,878,005 over the last three months. 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.