Van Lanschot Kempen Investment Management N.V. Sells 63,664 Shares of Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Van Lanschot Kempen Investment Management N.V. cut its holdings in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 32.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 132,340 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 63,664 shares during the period. Van Lanschot Kempen Investment Management N.V.’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $35,515,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 1.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 87,913,628 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $23,592,501,000 after purchasing an additional 1,383,942 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 18.3% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 11,224,927 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $3,752,830,000 after purchasing an additional 1,736,667 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 5.1% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 9,014,148 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,419,037,000 after buying an additional 437,435 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 23.2% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,938,536 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,988,422,000 after buying an additional 1,683,233 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 7.5% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 8,658,132 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,894,673,000 after buying an additional 602,445 shares during the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on CRM. Cantor Fitzgerald lowered shares of Salesforce from an “overweight” rating to a “cautious” rating in a report on Thursday, July 10th. DA Davidson raised shares of Salesforce from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $255.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 29th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $350.00 to $335.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $400.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twenty-six have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $342.89.

Salesforce Price Performance

NYSE:CRM opened at $244.15 on Tuesday. Salesforce Inc. has a 12 month low of $226.48 and a 12 month high of $369.00. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $259.85 and a two-hundred day moving average of $274.14. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The firm has a market cap of $233.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.37.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 28th. The CRM provider reported $2.58 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.55 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $9.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.74 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 12.94% and a net margin of 16.08%. Salesforce’s quarterly revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.44 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 10th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 18th were issued a $0.416 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 18th. This represents a $1.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is presently 25.98%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Salesforce news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 2,250 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $241.49, for a total value of $543,352.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 11,911,571 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,876,525,280.79. This represents a 0.02% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In the last three months, insiders have sold 48,782 shares of company stock valued at $12,626,046. 3.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.