Mechanics Bank Trust Department Takes Position in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Mechanics Bank Trust Department acquired a new stake in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 1,459 shares of the CRM provider’s stock, valued at approximately $488,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in CRM. Pine Haven Investment Counsel Inc grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Pine Haven Investment Counsel Inc now owns 2,875 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $961,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Diversify Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 44.9% during the 4th quarter. Diversify Wealth Management LLC now owns 23,680 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $7,527,000 after purchasing an additional 7,335 shares during the last quarter. LVW Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 10.7% during the 4th quarter. LVW Advisors LLC now owns 2,044 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $683,000 after purchasing an additional 198 shares during the last quarter. Ellsworth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 1,562.4% during the 4th quarter. Ellsworth Advisors LLC now owns 13,233 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $4,424,000 after purchasing an additional 12,437 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Annex Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 11.5% during the 4th quarter. Annex Advisory Services LLC now owns 84,407 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $28,220,000 after purchasing an additional 8,722 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on CRM shares. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $450.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Salesforce from $340.00 to $430.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Guggenheim lowered shares of 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. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Salesforce from $275.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Cfra set a $343.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, October 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, thirty-one have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $377.63.

Insider Transactions at Salesforce

In related news, insider R David Schmaier sold 1,785 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $344.00, for a total transaction of $614,040.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 19,116 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,575,904. The trade was a 8.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Amy E. Weaver sold 897 shares of the company’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 $255,905.13. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 52,930 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,100,399.70. The trade was a 1.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,183,838 shares of company stock worth $405,595,158 over the last three months. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Salesforce Stock Performance

Shares of CRM stock opened at $324.77 on Monday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $337.31 and a 200-day moving average price of $291.80. Salesforce, Inc. has a 52 week low of $212.00 and a 52 week high of $369.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $310.81 billion, a PE ratio of 53.42, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, December 3rd. The CRM provider reported $2.41 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 company had revenue of $9.44 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.35 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.62 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 18th were paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, December 18th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.49%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is presently 26.32%.

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.