Employees Retirement System of Texas Sells 10,880 Shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Employees Retirement System of Texas cut its stake in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 3.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 322,000 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 10,880 shares during the period. Salesforce accounts for about 0.8% of Employees Retirement System of Texas’ investment portfolio, making the stock its 29th biggest holding. Employees Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in Salesforce were worth $82,786,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Spartan Planning & Wealth Management grew its stake in shares of Salesforce by 66.3% in the fourth quarter. Spartan Planning & Wealth Management now owns 1,567 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $412,000 after buying an additional 625 shares in the last quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC lifted its stake in Salesforce by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 5,951,415 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,566,055,000 after acquiring an additional 18,397 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 32.6% in the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 789,525 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $207,756,000 after acquiring an additional 194,224 shares during the period. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Salesforce by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 7,160 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,983,000 after purchasing an additional 95 shares during the last quarter. Finally, XN LP raised its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 24.2% in the 2nd quarter. XN LP now owns 464,489 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $119,420,000 after purchasing an additional 90,616 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on CRM shares. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Salesforce from $295.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. FBN Securities raised Salesforce to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, September 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $300.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Evercore ISI reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-seven have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Salesforce currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $307.73.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Brian Millham sold 2,018 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $260.00, for a total transaction of $524,680.00. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, COO Brian Millham sold 2,018 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $260.00, for a total transaction of $524,680.00. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Parker Harris sold 942 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $264.78, for a total value of $249,422.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 118,514 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $31,380,136.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 65,033 shares of company stock worth $16,699,397. Insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Price Performance

Shares of CRM stock opened at $274.09 on Thursday. Salesforce, Inc. has a twelve month low of $193.68 and a twelve month high of $318.71. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $254.66 and a 200 day simple moving average of $265.66. The company has a market cap of $262.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.30, a P/E/G ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.29.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The CRM provider reported $2.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $9.33 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.22 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 15.44% and a return on equity of 12.01%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.63 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 8th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 18th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.58%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.78%.

About Salesforce

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.