Advisors Preferred LLC Takes Position in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Advisors Preferred LLC bought a new position in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 9,900 shares of the CRM provider's stock, valued at approximately $2,675,000.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in Salesforce by 13.7% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 25,668 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $8,582,000 after purchasing an additional 3,102 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in Salesforce by 12.6% in the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,827 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $611,000 after purchasing an additional 205 shares during the period. Modern Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Salesforce by 65.5% in the 4th quarter. Modern Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,232 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $730,000 after purchasing an additional 883 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Salesforce by 9.7% in the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc. now owns 822,377 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $274,945,000 after purchasing an additional 72,773 shares during the period. Finally, Ashton Thomas Securities LLC grew its stake in Salesforce by 7.3% in the 4th quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC now owns 6,664 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $2,227,000 after purchasing an additional 454 shares during the period. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 2,250 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $266.56, for a total transaction of $599,760.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 11,911,571 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,175,148,365.76. This trade represents a 0.02% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders have sold a total of 33,479 shares of company stock valued at $9,091,796 in the last three months. 3.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on CRM. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating and set a $275.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Barclays dropped their price target on Salesforce from $425.00 to $347.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. Mizuho dropped their price target on Salesforce from $425.00 to $380.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. UBS Group set a $404.00 price target on Salesforce and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. Finally, Guggenheim raised Salesforce from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, April 21st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $348.16.

Salesforce Stock Performance

Shares of CRM stock traded up $1.41 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $269.11. 4,013,320 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,704,325. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $268.07 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $284.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $257.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.11, a P/E/G ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.36. Salesforce Inc. has a 12-month low of $230.00 and a 12-month 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.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 28th. The CRM provider reported $2.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 firm 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 posted $2.44 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 10th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 18th were given a $0.416 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 18th. This represents a $1.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.62%. Salesforce's payout ratio is currently 25.98%.

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.