Gradient Investments LLC Sells 54,639 Shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Posted by Defense World Staff on Mar 19th, 2023

Gradient Investments LLC lowered its position in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM – Get Rating) by 95.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,845 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 54,639 shares during the period. Gradient Investments LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $377,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Wellington Shields & Co. LLC grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 4.4% during the 2nd quarter. Wellington Shields & Co. LLC now owns 1,301 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $215,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Architects LLC grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 4.4% during the 1st quarter. Wealth Architects LLC now owns 1,537 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $326,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. AlphaCore Capital LLC grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 5.0% during the 2nd quarter. AlphaCore Capital LLC now owns 1,368 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $226,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Oakworth Capital Inc. grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 5.8% during the 3rd quarter. Oakworth Capital Inc. now owns 1,205 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $173,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Saturna Capital CORP boosted its position in shares of Salesforce by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Saturna Capital CORP now owns 4,502 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $648,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.83% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Trading Down 1.3 %

CRM opened at $184.85 on Friday. Salesforce, Inc. has a twelve month low of $126.34 and a twelve month high of $222.15. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company has a fifty day moving average of $166.43 and a 200-day moving average of $153.81. The stock has a market cap of $184.85 billion, a PE ratio of 880.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.21.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 1st. The CRM provider reported $1.68 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.36 by $0.32. Salesforce had a net margin of 0.66% and a return on equity of 4.48%. The company had revenue of $8.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.99 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.24 earnings per share. Salesforce’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Salesforce, Inc. will post 4.88 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, March 1st that allows the company to buyback $20.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the CRM provider to repurchase up to 10.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Salesforce from $150.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 2nd. Cowen increased their price target on shares of Salesforce from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 21st. Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of Salesforce from $200.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on shares of Salesforce from $240.00 to $230.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 1st. Finally, Raymond James increased their price target on shares of Salesforce from $200.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Salesforce currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $211.24.

Insider Buying and Selling at Salesforce

In other Salesforce news, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 186 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction on Monday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.59, for a total value of $28,939.74. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 1,273 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $198,066.07. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 186 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.59, for a total transaction of $28,939.74. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 1,273 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $198,066.07. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Bret Steven Taylor sold 1,034 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $128.55, for a total transaction of $132,920.70. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 901,195 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $115,848,617.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 39,268 shares of company stock valued at $6,641,547. Corporate insiders own 3.60% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Company Profile

(Get Rating)

Salesforce, Inc engages in the design and development of cloud-based enterprise software for customer relationship management. Its solutions include sales force automation, customer service and support, marketing automation, digital commerce, community management, collaboration, industry-specific solutions, and salesforce platform.