King Luther Capital Management Corp Lowers Holdings in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

King Luther Capital Management Corp lowered its position in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 3.7% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 259,723 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 9,998 shares during the quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $66,775,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Gilbert & Cook Inc. boosted its holdings in Salesforce by 6.9% in the 4th quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 5,659 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,489,000 after purchasing an additional 366 shares in the last quarter. Aveo Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 44.7% in the fourth quarter. Aveo Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,605 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $422,000 after buying an additional 496 shares in the last quarter. 9258 Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Salesforce by 24.0% during the fourth quarter. 9258 Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,483 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,706,000 after acquiring an additional 1,253 shares during the period. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC raised its position in Salesforce by 32.4% in the fourth quarter. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC now owns 3,960 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,064,000 after acquiring an additional 970 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TrinityPoint Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in Salesforce by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. TrinityPoint Wealth LLC now owns 8,036 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,115,000 after acquiring an additional 133 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on CRM. Bank of America reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $325.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Friday, September 6th. Macquarie dropped their target price on shares of Salesforce from $330.00 to $275.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 31st. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Salesforce from $320.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Citigroup upped their price target on Salesforce from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 26th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price objective on Salesforce from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $306.00.

Insider Transactions at Salesforce

In other news, insider Srinivas Tallapragada sold 942 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.32, for a total transaction of $228,265.44. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 22,154 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,368,357.28. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, insider Srinivas Tallapragada sold 942 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.32, for a total transaction of $228,265.44. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 22,154 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,368,357.28. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Parker Harris sold 4,200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $257.04, for a total value of $1,079,568.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 117,581 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,223,020.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 66,576 shares of company stock worth $16,957,573 in the last three months. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Salesforce Price Performance

CRM opened at $265.87 on Friday. Salesforce, Inc. has a 1 year low of $193.68 and a 1 year high of $318.71. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $253.90 and its 200 day simple moving average is $267.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $257.63 billion, a PE ratio of 47.82, a P/E/G ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.04.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The CRM provider reported $2.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.20. Salesforce had a net margin of 15.44% and a return on equity of 12.01%. The company had revenue of $9.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.22 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.63 EPS. Salesforce’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.55 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 8th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 18th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.60%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is presently 28.78%.

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.