New Mexico Educational Retirement Board Lowers Holdings in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

New Mexico Educational Retirement Board lowered its holdings in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 2.7% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 46,186 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 1,300 shares during the period. Salesforce makes up approximately 0.5% of New Mexico Educational Retirement Board’s holdings, making the stock its 23rd largest holding. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $15,441,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. RBA Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Salesforce by 3.7% during the third quarter. RBA Wealth Management LLC now owns 16,172 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $4,426,000 after buying an additional 574 shares during the period. Creative Planning raised its stake in Salesforce by 8.0% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 233,743 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $63,978,000 after buying an additional 17,350 shares in the last quarter. SPC Financial Inc. raised its stake in Salesforce by 3.7% in the third quarter. SPC Financial Inc. now owns 1,995 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $546,000 after buying an additional 71 shares in the last quarter. Bfsg LLC increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 4.7% during the third quarter. Bfsg LLC now owns 4,054 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,110,000 after purchasing an additional 183 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Good Life Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 35.5% during the third quarter. Good Life Advisors LLC now owns 2,216 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $607,000 after purchasing an additional 581 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Amy E. Weaver sold 6,221 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $335.94, for a total transaction of $2,089,882.74. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 46,750 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,705,195. This trade represents a 11.74 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 436 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 7,057 shares in the company, valued at $2,344,899.96. The trade was a 5.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 1,111,420 shares of company stock worth $384,366,700. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Salesforce Stock Performance

CRM opened at $325.49 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $311.49 billion, a PE ratio of 53.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 1.31. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $337.29 and a 200-day moving average of $302.33. Salesforce, Inc. has a 52-week low of $212.00 and a 52-week high of $369.00. 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 (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 company had revenue of $9.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.35 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.62 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, December 18th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. Salesforce’s payout ratio is 26.32%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Erste Group Bank upgraded Salesforce from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $425.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and set a $400.00 price target (up previously from $380.00) on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Salesforce from $360.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Guggenheim lowered Salesforce from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $247.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Monday, January 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, thirty-one have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $377.63.

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.