Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) Shares Acquired by Alta Advisers Ltd

Alta Advisers Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 56.8% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,970 shares of the CRM provider's stock after buying an additional 1,800 shares during the quarter. Alta Advisers Ltd's holdings in Salesforce were worth $1,334,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Accredited Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Salesforce in the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Wood Tarver Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,000. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of Salesforce during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Finally, Graney & King LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the fourth quarter worth approximately $54,000. Institutional investors own 80.43% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on CRM. Stephens dropped their price objective on Salesforce from $311.00 to $309.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 30th. Guggenheim raised shares of Salesforce from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $243.00 to $255.00 and gave the company an "underperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. Northland Securities reduced their target price on shares of Salesforce from $423.00 to $396.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on Salesforce from $425.00 to $375.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $349.08.

Salesforce Stock Performance

CRM stock traded down $2.85 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $269.06. The company had a trading volume of 6,075,671 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,542,768. The company has a market cap of $257.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 1.36. Salesforce Inc. has a twelve month low of $230.00 and a twelve 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. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $271.69 and a 200-day simple moving average of $293.08.

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

Salesforce Cuts Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Srinivas Tallapragada sold 1,269 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $262.35, for a total value of $332,922.15. Following the transaction, the insider owned 42,678 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,196,573.30. This represents a 2.89% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 261 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $262.35, for a total transaction of $68,473.35. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 12,024 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,154,496.40. The trade was a 2.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 28,534 shares of company stock valued at $7,609,842. 3.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.