ABC Arbitrage SA Acquires 1,439 Shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Key Points

• ABC Arbitrage SA increased its position in Salesforce Inc. by 32.6%, acquiring an additional 1,439 shares, bringing its total holdings to 5,853 shares valued at approximately $1.57 million.
• Analysts have set a new average price target for Salesforce at $348.16, with varying ratings including "overweight" and "outperform," indicating positive sentiment towards the stock's performance.
• Salesforce recently reported earnings of $2.58 per share, exceeding expectations, with a revenue of $9.83 billion for the quarter, reflecting a 7.6% year-over-year growth.

ABC Arbitrage SA lifted its position in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 32.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,853 shares of the CRM provider's stock after purchasing an additional 1,439 shares during the period. ABC Arbitrage SA's holdings in Salesforce were worth $1,571,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Liberty One Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Salesforce by 1.2% during the first quarter. Liberty One Investment Management LLC now owns 3,165 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $849,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares during the period. First Command Advisory Services Inc. increased its stake in shares of Salesforce by 7.3% during the first quarter. First Command Advisory Services Inc. now owns 572 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $154,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares during the period. Mendel Money Management increased its stake in shares of Salesforce by 3.6% during the first quarter. Mendel Money Management now owns 1,112 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $298,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares during the period. Clarity Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Salesforce by 2.3% during the first quarter. Clarity Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,760 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $472,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the period. Finally, Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Salesforce by 5.2% in the 1st quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC now owns 812 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $218,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.43% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CRM has been the subject of several analyst reports. UBS Group set a $404.00 price objective on Salesforce and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, June 18th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on Salesforce from $350.00 to $335.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $404.00 price target (up previously from $393.00) on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. Westpark Capital reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $320.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. Finally, DA Davidson reiterated an "underperform" rating and issued a $200.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, twenty-seven have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $348.16.

Salesforce Stock Up 0.6%

CRM stock opened at $252.21 on Tuesday. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $265.62 and its 200 day simple moving average is $281.14. Salesforce Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $230.00 and a fifty-two week high of $369.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.07. The company has a market cap of $241.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.37.

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

Salesforce Cuts Dividend

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

Insider Activity at Salesforce

In other news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 2,250 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $251.94, for a total value of $566,865.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 11,911,571 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,001,001,197.74. This represents a 0.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders sold 41,979 shares of company stock valued at $11,330,746 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 3.20% 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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.