Argus Investors Counsel Inc. Reduces Stock Holdings in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Argus Investors Counsel Inc. cut its position in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 1.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 4,712 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 52 shares during the period. Argus Investors Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $1,575,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Czech National Bank increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 6.7% during the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 197,395 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $54,029,000 after acquiring an additional 12,314 shares during the last quarter. RBA Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. RBA Wealth Management LLC now owns 16,172 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $4,426,000 after purchasing an additional 574 shares in the last quarter. Axiom Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in Salesforce by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Axiom Advisory LLC now owns 6,272 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,608,000 after buying an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC boosted its holdings in Salesforce by 1.5% in the third quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 21,861 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $5,984,000 after purchasing an additional 313 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Trust Co of Kansas boosted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Trust Co of Kansas now owns 21,790 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $5,964,000 after buying an additional 191 shares in the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently issued reports on CRM. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Salesforce from $340.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $450.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Scotiabank boosted their target price on Salesforce from $425.00 to $440.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Salesforce from $340.00 to $430.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on Salesforce from $400.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. 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, Salesforce presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $377.63.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director G Mason Morfit sold 722,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $346.11, for a total transaction of $249,995,253.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 3,192,009 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,104,786,234.99. This represents a 18.45 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Brian Millham sold 14,808 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $338.95, for a total value of $5,019,171.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,111,420 shares of company stock worth $384,366,700 over the last ninety days. 3.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Salesforce Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE CRM opened at $347.41 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $332.47 billion, a PE ratio of 57.14, a P/E/G ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $339.04 and a 200-day moving average of $299.65. Salesforce, Inc. has a 52-week low of $212.00 and a 52-week high of $369.00.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced its quarterly 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 firm had revenue of $9.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.35 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 12.34% and a net margin of 15.96%. The business’s revenue was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.62 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.48 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 18th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 18th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.46%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.32%.

Salesforce 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.