Truist Financial Corp Sells 36,499 Shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Truist Financial Corp trimmed its holdings in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 8.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 405,563 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 36,499 shares during the quarter. Truist Financial Corp’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $106,720,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Graypoint LLC increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 10,504 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $2,764,000 after acquiring an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. Opes Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Salesforce by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Opes Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,295 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $341,000 after buying an additional 37 shares during the period. Prentice Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Salesforce by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Prentice Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,294 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $604,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the period. MV Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in Salesforce by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,045 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $275,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares during the period. Finally, Beaumont Asset Management L.L.C. lifted its position in Salesforce by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Beaumont Asset Management L.L.C. now owns 8,901 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $2,342,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares during the period. 80.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Salesforce Price Performance

CRM stock traded up $1.15 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $274.29. The stock had a trading volume of 3,754,585 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,162,527. Salesforce, Inc. has a 52-week low of $190.76 and a 52-week high of $318.71. The company has a market cap of $266.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 65.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.28. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $295.97 and its 200 day simple moving average is $263.90. 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 quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 28th. The CRM provider reported $1.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.72 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $9.29 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.22 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 10.42% and a net margin of 11.87%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.01 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.58%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 13th. Salesforce’s payout ratio is 9.52%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $276.65, for a total transaction of $4,149,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 12,782,327 shares in the company, valued at $3,536,230,764.55. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Salesforce news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $276.65, for a total transaction of $4,149,750.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 12,782,327 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,536,230,764.55. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 2,425 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $273.15, for a total value of $662,388.75. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 5,856 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,599,566.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 620,793 shares of company stock worth $182,177,918 over the last 90 days. 3.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on CRM. Canaccord Genuity Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $350.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, March 7th. UBS Group raised their price target on Salesforce from $285.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating and set a $300.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Salesforce from $290.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $350.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $310.61.

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.