Banque Cantonale Vaudoise Lowers Holdings in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Banque Cantonale Vaudoise reduced its position in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 16.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 48,742 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 9,631 shares during the quarter. Salesforce comprises about 0.6% of Banque Cantonale Vaudoise’s portfolio, making the stock its 26th biggest position. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $13,341,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of CRM. Aviance Capital Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 0.5% during the third quarter. Aviance Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,797 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,860,000 after buying an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. Umpqua Bank increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Umpqua Bank now owns 7,708 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,110,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Nvwm LLC lifted its position in shares of Salesforce by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Nvwm LLC now owns 2,565 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $667,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. Prentice Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Salesforce by 1.5% in the third quarter. Prentice Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,506 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $686,000 after buying an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Private Wealth Management Group LLC lifted its holdings in Salesforce by 11.6% during the 3rd quarter. Private Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 357 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $98,000 after buying an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Phillip Securities reissued an “accumulate” rating and set a $305.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Northland Securities raised shares of Salesforce from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $270.00 to $400.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. FBN Securities upgraded shares of Salesforce to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Salesforce from $320.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Salesforce from $305.00 to $385.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-seven have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $325.36.

Salesforce Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CRM opened at $322.25 on Tuesday. Salesforce, Inc. has a 12 month low of $212.00 and a 12 month high of $348.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $308.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 56.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 1.29. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $288.14 and its 200-day simple moving average is $266.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 1.04.

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

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 8th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 18th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 18th. Salesforce’s payout ratio is currently 27.83%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Parker Harris sold 3,970 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $296.74, for a total value of $1,178,057.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 119,402 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $35,431,349.48. The trade was a 3.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Sabastian Niles sold 2,484 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $244.81, for a total value of $608,108.04. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 828 shares in the company, valued at $202,702.68. This represents a 75.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 140,173 shares of company stock worth $40,146,206. Insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

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.