Fermata Advisors LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Fermata Advisors LLC lessened its stake in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 38.1% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,174 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 722 shares during the quarter. Fermata Advisors LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $393,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Aviance Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in Salesforce by 0.5% in the third quarter. Aviance Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,797 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,860,000 after buying an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. EWA LLC increased its stake in Salesforce by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. EWA LLC now owns 2,001 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $548,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. Umpqua Bank raised its holdings in Salesforce by 0.4% during the third quarter. Umpqua Bank now owns 7,708 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $2,110,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Principal Street Partners LLC boosted its position in Salesforce by 1.0% during the third quarter. Principal Street Partners LLC now owns 3,297 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $891,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nvwm LLC grew its holdings in Salesforce by 1.4% in the third quarter. Nvwm LLC now owns 2,565 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $667,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 413 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $285.29, for a total transaction of $117,824.77. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 7,006 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,998,741.74. The trade was a 5.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Parker Harris sold 4,200 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 118,514 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $34,229,213.48. This represents a 3.42 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,183,838 shares of company stock valued at $405,595,158 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Stock Up 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE CRM opened at $324.77 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $337.25 and a 200 day moving average price of $291.08. The company has a market cap of $310.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.42, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.30. Salesforce, Inc. has a 12-month low of $212.00 and a 12-month high of $369.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, December 3rd. The CRM provider reported $2.41 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.44 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $9.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.35 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 15.96% and a return on equity of 12.34%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.62 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 18th were issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, December 18th. Salesforce’s payout ratio is 26.32%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $315.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Salesforce from $275.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. KeyCorp upgraded Salesforce from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $440.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Salesforce from $300.00 to $420.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded Salesforce from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $380.00 to $400.00 in a research report on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, thirty-one have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $377.63.

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.