King Luther Capital Management Corp Sells 24,691 Shares of Salesforce Inc. $CRM

King Luther Capital Management Corp reduced its holdings in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRMFree Report) by 9.2% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 244,175 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 24,691 shares during the quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $64,684,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Board of the Pension Protection Fund bought a new position in Salesforce in the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Key Capital Management INC bought a new position in Salesforce in the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Legacy Bridge LLC bought a new position in Salesforce in the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Dogwood Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Salesforce by 285.7% in the 4th quarter. Dogwood Wealth Management LLC now owns 108 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Texas Capital Bancshares Inc TX bought a new position in Salesforce in the 3rd quarter worth about $28,000. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on CRM shares. Barclays decreased their target price on Salesforce from $265.00 to $252.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Salesforce from $235.00 to $210.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $281.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Salesforce from $365.00 to $320.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, Oppenheimer reduced their price objective on Salesforce from $275.00 to $250.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have given a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $274.12.

Check Out Our Latest Stock Report on CRM

Insider Activity

In related news, Director David Blair Kirk bought 2,570 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $194.62 per share, for a total transaction of $500,173.40. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 13,689 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,664,153.18. The trade was a 23.11% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Laura Alber bought 2,571 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 19th. The shares were bought at an average price of $194.58 per share, with a total value of $500,265.18. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 9,530 shares in the company, valued at $1,854,347.40. This trade represents a 36.94% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 3.50% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

Salesforce Price Performance

Shares of Salesforce stock opened at $179.51 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $146.88 billion, a PE ratio of 22.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.14. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $181.63 and its 200-day moving average price is $211.60. Salesforce Inc. has a 12 month low of $163.52 and a 12 month high of $278.81.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRMGet Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.05 by $0.76. The company had revenue of $11.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.18 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 15.38% and a net margin of 17.96%.Salesforce’s quarterly revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.78 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Salesforce Inc. will post 9.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Monday, March 16th that authorizes the company to buyback $25.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the CRM provider to purchase up to 14.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

About Salesforce

(Free Report)

Salesforce, founded in 1999 and headquartered in San Francisco, is a global provider of cloud-based software focused on customer relationship management (CRM) and enterprise applications. The company popularized the software-as-a-service (SaaS) model for CRM and has built a broad portfolio of products designed to help organizations manage sales, service, marketing, commerce and analytics through a unified, cloud-first platform.

Core offerings include Sales Cloud for sales automation, Service Cloud for customer support, Marketing Cloud for digital marketing and engagement, and Commerce Cloud for e-commerce.

Further Reading

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Institutional Ownership by Quarter for Salesforce (NYSE:CRM)

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