Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) Shares Acquired by HF Advisory Group LLC

HF Advisory Group LLC boosted its holdings in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 16.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 6,282 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after buying an additional 872 shares during the quarter. HF Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $2,100,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of CRM. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 49,007,404 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $13,432,855,000 after acquiring an additional 864,193 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Salesforce by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,780,318 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $5,395,132,000 after purchasing an additional 257,501 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Salesforce by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 12,276,551 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $3,360,215,000 after purchasing an additional 314,530 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc raised its holdings in Salesforce by 2.2% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 8,329,687 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $2,141,562,000 after buying an additional 176,641 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 1.0% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 5,964,702 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,632,599,000 after buying an additional 57,825 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Salesforce from $415.00 to $425.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Needham & Company LLC increased their target price on Salesforce from $375.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Erste Group Bank raised Salesforce from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. KeyCorp raised Salesforce from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $440.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Salesforce from $275.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, thirty-one have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Salesforce presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $377.63.

Salesforce Stock Up 1.5 %

CRM stock opened at $324.77 on Friday. Salesforce, Inc. has a twelve month low of $212.00 and a twelve month high of $369.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The company has a market cap of $310.81 billion, a PE ratio of 53.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.30. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $337.31 and its 200 day simple moving average is $291.56.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, December 3rd. The CRM provider reported $2.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.44 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $9.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.35 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 15.96% and a return on equity of 12.34%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.62 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 18th were issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, December 18th. Salesforce’s payout ratio is 26.32%.

Insider Activity

In other Salesforce news, COO Brian Millham sold 6,161 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $289.75, for a total value of $1,785,149.75. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 969 shares in the company, valued at $280,767.75. This represents a 86.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 413 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $285.29, for a total value of $117,824.77. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 7,006 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,998,741.74. The trade was a 5.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 1,183,838 shares of company stock worth $405,595,158. Corporate insiders own 3.20% 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.