Principal Securities Inc. Lowers Stock Position in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Principal Securities Inc. reduced its holdings in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 23.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 27,411 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 8,337 shares during the quarter. Principal Securities Inc.’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $7,503,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Salesforce by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 84,635,254 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $25,490,446,000 after purchasing an additional 1,008,841 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its holdings in Salesforce by 26.9% in the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 14,376,536 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $4,329,925,000 after buying an additional 3,044,611 shares during the period. Capital International Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 3.0% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 14,116,449 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $4,251,592,000 after acquiring an additional 407,834 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc raised its stake in Salesforce by 2.2% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 8,329,687 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $2,141,562,000 after purchasing an additional 176,641 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 48.3% during the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 5,906,877 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,518,658,000 after buying an additional 1,922,674 shares during the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Salesforce

In related news, COO Brian Millham sold 60,522 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total transaction of $18,156,600.00. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, COO Brian Millham sold 60,522 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total value of $18,156,600.00. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Parker Harris sold 1,400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $251.62, for a total transaction of $352,268.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 117,581 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,585,731.22. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 148,303 shares of company stock valued at $42,024,385. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on CRM shares. Evercore ISI reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Cfra set a $343.00 target price on Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Salesforce from $320.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Phillip Securities reissued an “accumulate” rating and issued a $305.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Finally, JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $342.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $313.37.

Salesforce Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CRM opened at $291.41 on Friday. Salesforce, Inc. has a twelve month low of $198.66 and a twelve month high of $318.71. The company has a market cap of $278.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.68, a PEG ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.30. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $272.41 and a 200 day moving average price of $263.22. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

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

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 8th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 18th were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 18th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is 27.83%.

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.