Calamos Advisors LLC Sells 2,487 Shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Calamos Advisors LLC lowered its holdings in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 0.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 282,483 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 2,487 shares during the period. Calamos Advisors LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $74,333,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Salesforce by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 45,509,345 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $9,091,832,000 after buying an additional 391,648 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its position in shares of Salesforce by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 19,003,836 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,519,719,000 after buying an additional 149,012 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of Salesforce by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 11,195,108 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,270,144,000 after buying an additional 121,436 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,420,381,000. Finally, Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Salesforce by 125,717.4% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 10,260,412 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,360,428,000 after buying an additional 10,252,257 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CRM has been the subject of several analyst reports. KeyCorp initiated coverage on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. They issued a “sector weight” rating for the company. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $300.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Monday. TheStreet upgraded shares of Salesforce from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Friday, January 19th. Finally, JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $342.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Monday. Nine 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Salesforce presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $307.87.

Salesforce Stock Down 1.6 %

NYSE CRM traded down $4.40 on Thursday, hitting $271.92. 5,746,552 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,707,277. The company has a market cap of $263.76 billion, a PE ratio of 64.71, a PEG ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 1.28. Salesforce, Inc. has a 12 month low of $190.57 and a 12 month high of $318.71. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $298.10 and a 200-day moving average of $260.89. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

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

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 13th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.52%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Salesforce

In other Salesforce news, insider Srinivas Tallapragada sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $284.11, for a total value of $2,841,100.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 60,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,323,891.36. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, COO Brian Millham sold 293,965 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total value of $82,310,200.00. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Srinivas Tallapragada sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $284.11, for a total transaction of $2,841,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 60,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,323,891.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 907,149 shares of company stock valued at $262,952,448. Corporate insiders own 3.70% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Company 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.