Salesforce Inc. $CRM Shares Bought by Aptus Capital Advisors LLC

Aptus Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 267.3% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 48,821 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 35,529 shares during the period. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $13,101,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce during the first quarter valued at approximately $2,039,196,000. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 926.4% during the fourth quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 4,256,211 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,422,979,000 after purchasing an additional 3,841,521 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Salesforce by 30,456.9% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,801,588 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,020,194,000 after purchasing an additional 3,789,147 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in Salesforce by 18.3% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 11,224,927 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $3,752,830,000 after purchasing an additional 1,736,667 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Salesforce by 1,744.0% during the 1st quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,820,262 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $488,486,000 after purchasing an additional 1,721,550 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Stock Up 0.7%

Shares of NYSE CRM opened at $244.15 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $233.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.21, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.37. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $259.85 and its 200-day simple moving average is $274.14. Salesforce Inc. has a 12-month low of $226.48 and a 12-month high of $369.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 28th. The CRM provider reported $2.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.55 by $0.03. Salesforce had a return on equity of 12.94% and a net margin of 16.08%. The company had revenue of $9.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.74 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.44 EPS. Salesforce’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Cuts Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on shares of Salesforce from $350.00 to $335.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $375.00 to $325.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $275.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Monday. Piper Sandler upped their price target on Salesforce from $315.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Salesforce from $255.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 29th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twenty-six have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Salesforce presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $342.89.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Salesforce news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 2,250 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $260.30, for a total transaction of $585,675.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 11,955,566 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,112,033,829.80. The trade was a 0.02% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders sold a total of 48,782 shares of company stock valued at $12,626,046 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

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.