BLB&B Advisors LLC Buys 1,678 Shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

BLB&B Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 3.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 48,164 shares of the CRM provider's stock after buying an additional 1,678 shares during the quarter. BLB&B Advisors LLC's holdings in Salesforce were worth $12,925,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Mainstream Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Salesforce by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Mainstream Capital Management LLC now owns 6,409 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $2,143,000 after acquiring an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. lifted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 1,035 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $346,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Seven Mile Advisory lifted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Seven Mile Advisory now owns 1,762 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $589,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. Kozak & Associates Inc. boosted its position in shares of Salesforce by 1.6% in the first quarter. Kozak & Associates Inc. now owns 2,571 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $654,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the period. Finally, Meridian Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. Meridian Wealth Partners LLC now owns 834 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $279,000 after buying an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $325.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on shares of Salesforce from $367.00 to $350.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 27th. Guggenheim raised shares of Salesforce from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, April 21st. DA Davidson reiterated an "underperform" rating and issued a $200.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada lowered shares of Salesforce from an "outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating and decreased their target price for the company from $420.00 to $275.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $349.08.

Salesforce Stock Performance

CRM stock traded down $0.83 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $271.86. The stock had a trading volume of 6,252,523 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,536,170. Salesforce Inc. has a 52 week low of $230.00 and a 52 week 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. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $271.12 and a 200 day simple moving average of $293.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $259.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.54, a P/E/G ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 1.38.

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

Salesforce Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 10th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 18th will be issued a $0.416 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 18th. This represents a $1.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.61%. Salesforce's payout ratio is presently 25.98%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Salesforce

In related news, insider Srinivas Tallapragada sold 6,697 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $295.00, for a total transaction of $1,975,615.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 41,422 shares in the company, valued at $12,219,490. This trade represents a 13.92% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 1,525 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $253.66, for a total transaction of $386,831.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 12,211 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,097,442.26. This trade represents a 11.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 26,284 shares of company stock worth $6,996,762 over the last three months. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.