Paces Ferry Wealth Advisors LLC Reduces Position in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Paces Ferry Wealth Advisors LLC decreased its stake in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 1.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 4,650 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 47 shares during the period. Paces Ferry Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $1,224,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bear Mountain Capital Inc. bought a new position in Salesforce during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Pacifica Partners Inc. boosted its stake in Salesforce by 333.3% in the fourth quarter. Pacifica Partners Inc. now owns 130 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. BKM Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Salesforce during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Finally, AlphaMark Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Salesforce by 892.9% during the 4th quarter. AlphaMark Advisors LLC now owns 139 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the period. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Salesforce

In other Salesforce news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.95, for a total value of $4,244,250.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,626,166 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,855,523,669.70. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, COO Brian Millham sold 4,204 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $278.00, for a total transaction of $1,168,712.00. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.95, for a total transaction of $4,244,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,626,166 shares in the company, valued at $3,855,523,669.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 625,793 shares of company stock valued at $183,318,868. Insiders own 3.70% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:CRM traded down $6.80 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $268.94. 5,211,266 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,632,453. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 1.09. The company has a market cap of $260.87 billion, a PE ratio of 64.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 1.28. Salesforce, Inc. has a 52-week low of $190.76 and a 52-week high of $318.71. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $295.34 and a 200 day moving average of $265.65.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 28th. The CRM provider reported $1.78 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.72 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $9.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.22 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 10.42% and a net margin of 11.87%. Salesforce’s revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.01 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.45 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 13th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is 9.52%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on CRM shares. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on Salesforce from $290.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $345.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Oppenheimer upped their target price on Salesforce from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Salesforce from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and set a $360.00 target price (up previously from $275.00) on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $310.61.

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.