Pallas Capital Advisors LLC Cuts Holdings in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Pallas Capital Advisors LLC reduced its position in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 2.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 35,788 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 870 shares during the period. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $11,965,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Veritas Asset Management LLP bought a new position in shares of Salesforce during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $733,805,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in Salesforce by 48.3% during the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 5,906,877 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,518,658,000 after purchasing an additional 1,922,674 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV lifted its position in Salesforce by 171.2% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,634,834 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $447,470,000 after purchasing an additional 1,032,068 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Salesforce by 23,664.2% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,002,848 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $274,490,000 after buying an additional 998,628 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Farallon Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 51.0% in the 2nd quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC now owns 2,946,838 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $757,632,000 after buying an additional 994,670 shares during the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CRM has been the subject of several recent research reports. Cfra set a $343.00 price target on Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Northland Securities reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $440.00 target price (up previously from $400.00) on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Guggenheim lowered Salesforce from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $247.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Monday, January 6th. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $425.00 to $440.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Salesforce from $275.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, thirty have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $376.05.

Salesforce Price Performance

CRM opened at $319.39 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $305.66 billion, a PE ratio of 52.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 1.11. The business’s 50-day moving average is $336.25 and its two-hundred day moving average is $290.19. Salesforce, Inc. has a 1 year low of $212.00 and a 1 year 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). Salesforce had a return on equity of 12.34% and a net margin of 15.96%. The firm had revenue of $9.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.35 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.62 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 18th were given a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 18th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.50%. Salesforce’s payout ratio is 26.32%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 317,105 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $346.78, for a total value of $109,965,671.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 12,162,457 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,217,696,838.46. This trade represents a 2.54 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 413 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $285.29, for a total transaction of $117,824.77. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 7,006 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,998,741.74. This represents a 5.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,177,617 shares of company stock worth $403,542,975 in the last ninety days. 3.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Salesforce

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.