Tealwood Asset Management Inc. Decreases Stock Position in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Tealwood Asset Management Inc. decreased its position in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 1.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 6,605 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 71 shares during the period. Tealwood Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $2,208,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CRM. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 1.8% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 49,007,404 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $13,432,855,000 after acquiring an additional 864,193 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Salesforce by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,780,318 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $5,395,132,000 after purchasing an additional 257,501 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Salesforce by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 12,276,551 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $3,360,215,000 after purchasing an additional 314,530 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 2.2% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 8,329,687 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,141,562,000 after buying an additional 176,641 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 1.0% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 5,964,702 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,632,599,000 after buying an additional 57,825 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CRM has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $385.00 to $425.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Macquarie reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $370.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. DA Davidson upped their price objective on Salesforce from $250.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Needham & Company LLC lifted their target price on Salesforce from $375.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on Salesforce from $400.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, thirty have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $376.05.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Parker Harris sold 4,200 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 118,514 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $34,229,213.48. This trade represents a 3.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, COO Brian Millham sold 6,161 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $289.75, for a total transaction of $1,785,149.75. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 969 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $280,767.75. This trade represents a 86.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,177,617 shares of company stock worth $403,542,975. Corporate insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE CRM opened at $319.39 on Tuesday. Salesforce, Inc. has a 1 year low of $212.00 and a 1 year high of $369.00. 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 stock has a fifty day moving average price of $336.25 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $290.19. The firm has a market cap of $305.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.53, a PEG ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 1.30.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, December 3rd. The CRM provider reported $2.41 earnings per share (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 firm had revenue of $9.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.35 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.62 earnings per share. Salesforce’s revenue was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 18th were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 18th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is presently 26.32%.

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.