Sapient Capital LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Sapient Capital LLC reduced its stake in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 1.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 5,181 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 61 shares during the quarter. Sapient Capital LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $1,734,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in CRM. Veritas Asset Management LLP purchased a new stake in Salesforce in the third quarter valued at about $733,805,000. Jennison Associates LLC raised its stake in Salesforce by 52.7% in the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 4,433,785 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,482,347,000 after buying an additional 1,530,572 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB raised its stake in Salesforce by 46.7% in the fourth quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 3,829,773 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,280,408,000 after buying an additional 1,219,254 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV raised its stake in Salesforce by 171.2% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,634,834 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $447,470,000 after buying an additional 1,032,068 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 23,664.2% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,002,848 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $274,490,000 after purchasing an additional 998,628 shares during the period. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Salesforce 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 owns 46,750 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,705,195. This trade represents a 11.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Brian Millham sold 14,808 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $338.95, for a total value of $5,019,171.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,111,420 shares of company stock valued at $384,366,700 over the last quarter. 3.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Salesforce Stock Performance

Shares of Salesforce stock opened at $324.50 on Wednesday. Salesforce, Inc. has a one year low of $212.00 and a one year high of $369.00. The company has a market cap of $310.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.37, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 1.11. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $338.89 and its 200 day moving average price is $301.53.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.35 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.62 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.48 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 18th were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 18th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.32%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $400.00 price objective (up from $380.00) on shares of Salesforce in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Salesforce from $360.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their target price on Salesforce from $315.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Salesforce from $340.00 to $430.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Loop Capital raised their target price on Salesforce from $340.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, thirty-one have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $377.63.

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.