GraniteShares Advisors LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

GraniteShares Advisors LLC cut its stake in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 19.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,848 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 1,421 shares during the period. GraniteShares Advisors LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $1,955,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Kirtland Hills Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 16.6% in the fourth quarter. Kirtland Hills Capital Management LLC now owns 4,993 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,669,000 after purchasing an additional 710 shares during the last quarter. Bradley & Co. Private Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $170,000. Cavalier Investments LLC grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Cavalier Investments LLC now owns 17,019 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $5,690,000 after purchasing an additional 672 shares during the last quarter. FFT Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 7.6% in the fourth quarter. FFT Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,018 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $675,000 after purchasing an additional 143 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Delta Financial Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 52.6% in the fourth quarter. Delta Financial Advisors LLC now owns 5,906 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,974,000 after purchasing an additional 2,035 shares during the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on CRM. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of Salesforce from $360.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Salesforce from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $380.00 to $400.00 in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Salesforce from $425.00 to $440.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. DA Davidson raised their target price on shares of Salesforce from $250.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on shares of Salesforce from $425.00 to $375.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, thirty-two have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $374.47.

Salesforce Stock Performance

Shares of CRM stock opened at $306.02 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $331.46 and its 200-day simple moving average is $306.97. Salesforce, Inc. has a 52 week low of $212.00 and a 52 week 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. The company has a market cap of $292.86 billion, a PE ratio of 50.33, a P/E/G ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.31.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, December 3rd. The CRM provider reported $2.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 analysts’ expectations of $9.35 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.62 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 0.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 18th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.32%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Salesforce news, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 436 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $332.28, for a total transaction of $144,874.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 7,057 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,344,899.96. This trade represents a 5.82 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Marc Benioff sold 317,105 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $346.78, for a total transaction of $109,965,671.90. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 12,162,457 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,217,696,838.46. This represents a 2.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,102,572 shares of company stock valued at $381,283,706 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

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.