J. W. Coons Advisors LLC Has $543,000 Stake in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

J. W. Coons Advisors LLC trimmed its stake in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 6.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,623 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 105 shares during the period. J. W. Coons Advisors LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $543,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of CRM. Veritas Asset Management LLP bought a new position in shares of Salesforce during the 3rd quarter worth about $733,805,000. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 52.7% during the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 4,433,785 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,482,347,000 after acquiring an additional 1,530,572 shares during the period. Swedbank AB lifted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 46.7% during the 4th quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 3,829,773 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,280,408,000 after acquiring an additional 1,219,254 shares during the period. KBC Group NV lifted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 171.2% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,634,834 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $447,470,000 after acquiring an additional 1,032,068 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 1.8% during the 3rd 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 during the period. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Salesforce Stock Down 2.8 %

Shares of NYSE CRM opened at $309.54 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $296.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.91, a P/E/G ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.31. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $333.34 and a 200 day moving average price of $306.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 1.11. Salesforce, Inc. has a 52-week low of $212.00 and a 52-week high of $369.00.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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). The firm had revenue of $9.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.35 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 15.96% and a return on equity of 12.34%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.62 EPS. Analysts expect that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity at Salesforce

In other Salesforce news, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 436 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $332.28, for a total value of $144,874.08. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 7,057 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,344,899.96. The trade was a 5.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Amy E. Weaver sold 6,221 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $328.18, for a total transaction of $2,041,607.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 46,750 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,342,415. The trade was a 11.74 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 1,102,114 shares of company stock worth $381,142,656. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Guggenheim downgraded shares of Salesforce from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $247.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Monday, January 6th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $415.00 price target (up from $385.00) on shares of Salesforce in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and set a $400.00 price target (up from $380.00) on shares of Salesforce in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Scotiabank lifted their price target on shares of Salesforce from $425.00 to $440.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Salesforce from $390.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, thirty-two have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $375.53.

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.