Banco Santander S.A. Lowers Stake in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Banco Santander S.A. lowered its position in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 13.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 139,212 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 22,465 shares during the quarter. Banco Santander S.A.’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $46,543,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in CRM. Infrastructure Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Salesforce during the third quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Arlington Trust Co LLC lifted its holdings in Salesforce by 85.1% during the fourth quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC now owns 87 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Compass Financial Services Inc bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Asset Planning Inc bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, Collier Financial bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $430.00 to $400.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of Salesforce from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Salesforce from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $380.00 to $400.00 in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Redburn Atlantic assumed coverage on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $400.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, thirty-one have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Salesforce has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $365.62.

Salesforce Stock Down 1.2 %

Shares of CRM opened at $282.74 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $270.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.50, a P/E/G ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.35. Salesforce, Inc. has a 12-month low of $212.00 and a 12-month high of $369.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $323.68 and a 200-day moving average price of $308.18.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, December 3rd. The CRM provider reported $2.41 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.44 by ($0.03). Salesforce had a return on equity of 12.34% and a net margin of 15.96%. The business had revenue of $9.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.35 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.62 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director G Mason Morfit sold 722,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $346.11, for a total value of $249,995,253.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 3,192,009 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,104,786,234.99. This represents a 18.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Parker Harris sold 942 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $339.78, for a total transaction of $320,072.76. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 120,333 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $40,886,746.74. This trade represents a 0.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,108,793 shares of company stock valued at $383,156,227 over the last three months. 3.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Salesforce Profile

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.