Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) Shares Sold by Moody National Bank Trust Division

Moody National Bank Trust Division lessened its holdings in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM – Get Rating) by 1.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 17,854 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 319 shares during the period. Moody National Bank Trust Division’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $2,367,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 40.6% in the 2nd quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 46,707,038 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $7,708,529,000 after buying an additional 13,483,854 shares in the last quarter. Public Investment Fund purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce in the 2nd quarter valued at $437,393,000. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 114.9% in the 2nd quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 3,881,056 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $640,566,000 after buying an additional 2,074,938 shares during the last quarter. PointState Capital LP purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce in the 3rd quarter valued at $181,700,000. Finally, Polen Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 12.5% in the 3rd quarter. Polen Capital Management LLC now owns 11,057,687 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,590,538,000 after buying an additional 1,228,763 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.83% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Price Performance

CRM traded down $2.45 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $184.85. 10,493,254 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 9,626,618. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $184.85 billion, a PE ratio of 880.28, a P/E/G ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.21. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $166.43 and its 200 day moving average price is $153.85. Salesforce, Inc. has a 1-year low of $126.34 and a 1-year high of $222.15.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM – Get Rating) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, March 1st. The CRM provider reported $1.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.36 by $0.32. The company had revenue of $8.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.99 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 0.66% and a return on equity of 4.48%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 14.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.24 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Salesforce, Inc. will post 4.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, March 1st that allows the company to buyback $20.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the CRM provider to purchase up to 10.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Bret Steven Taylor sold 1,034 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $128.55, for a total transaction of $132,920.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 901,195 shares in the company, valued at $115,848,617.25. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, CEO Bret Steven Taylor sold 1,034 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $128.55, for a total transaction of $132,920.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 901,195 shares in the company, valued at $115,848,617.25. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Marc Benioff sold 725 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.28, for a total transaction of $131,428.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 27,753,609 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,031,174,239.52. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 39,268 shares of company stock worth $6,641,547. Insiders own 3.60% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently commented on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of Salesforce from $200.00 to $185.00 in a research report on Monday, November 28th. Credit Suisse Group dropped their target price on shares of Salesforce from $250.00 to $225.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 5th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded shares of Salesforce from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $134.00 to $119.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 11th. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $170.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $211.24.

Salesforce Company Profile

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Salesforce, Inc engages in the design and development of cloud-based enterprise software for customer relationship management. Its solutions include sales force automation, customer service and support, marketing automation, digital commerce, community management, collaboration, industry-specific solutions, and salesforce platform.