Hills Bank & Trust Co Trims Position in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Hills Bank & Trust Co lowered its position in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 1.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 16,731 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 178 shares during the period. Hills Bank & Trust Co’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $4,403,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. GDS Wealth Management boosted its position in Salesforce by 9.7% during the fourth quarter. GDS Wealth Management now owns 49,294 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $12,971,000 after purchasing an additional 4,363 shares in the last quarter. Breed s Hill Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Salesforce in the 4th quarter valued at about $281,000. Wealthspire Advisors LLC raised its position in Salesforce by 15.4% in the fourth quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC now owns 7,520 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,979,000 after purchasing an additional 1,006 shares during the period. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC lifted its stake in Salesforce by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC now owns 4,511 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,187,000 after acquiring an additional 194 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pioneer Trust Bank N A OR grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 33.6% in the fourth quarter. Pioneer Trust Bank N A OR now owns 19,590 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $5,155,000 after purchasing an additional 4,930 shares in the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CRM has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. TheStreet raised shares of Salesforce from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Friday, January 19th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Salesforce from $285.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Wolfe Research reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $365.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $342.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a report on Monday, April 15th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on Salesforce from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $310.61.

Insider Transactions at Salesforce

In other Salesforce news, CFO Amy E. Weaver sold 942 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $305.46, for a total transaction of $287,743.32. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 39,416 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,040,011.36. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $278.63, for a total value of $4,179,450.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 12,632,327 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,519,745,272.01. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Amy E. Weaver sold 942 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $305.46, for a total transaction of $287,743.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 39,416 shares in the company, valued at $12,040,011.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 624,193 shares of company stock valued at $182,005,898 in the last 90 days. 3.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Salesforce Trading Up 0.2 %

CRM traded up $0.51 during trading on Friday, hitting $275.68. 1,645,332 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,449,974. Salesforce, Inc. has a 1 year low of $193.68 and a 1 year high of $318.71. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $292.20 and a 200 day simple moving average of $268.12. The firm has a market cap of $266.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 65.84, a P/E/G ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.09.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The CRM provider reported $1.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.72 by $0.06. Salesforce had a return on equity of 10.42% and a net margin of 11.87%. The firm had revenue of $9.29 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.22 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.01 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.45 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 13th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.58%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.52%.

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.