Calamos Advisors LLC Buys 33,180 Shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Calamos Advisors LLC boosted its position in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 11.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 329,528 shares of the CRM provider's stock after purchasing an additional 33,180 shares during the quarter. Calamos Advisors LLC's holdings in Salesforce were worth $88,432,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in CRM. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Salesforce by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,955,353 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $6,656,078,000 after purchasing an additional 175,035 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in Salesforce by 18.3% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 11,224,927 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $3,752,830,000 after purchasing an additional 1,736,667 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Salesforce in the 4th quarter worth about $3,599,867,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in shares of Salesforce by 23.2% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,938,536 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $2,988,422,000 after buying an additional 1,683,233 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its position in shares of Salesforce by 7.5% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 8,658,132 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $2,894,673,000 after buying an additional 602,445 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.43% of the company's stock.

Salesforce Price Performance

CRM traded up $2.37 on Friday, hitting $271.58. 5,031,804 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,543,873. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $272.21 and its 200-day simple moving average is $292.32. The firm has a market cap of $259.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.50, a P/E/G ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 1.36. Salesforce Inc. has a one year low of $230.00 and a one year 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.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 28th. The CRM provider reported $2.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.55 by $0.03. The company 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 quarterly revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.44 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Cuts Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Salesforce news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 2,250 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $272.48, for a total value of $613,080.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 11,862,457 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,232,282,283.36. The trade was a 0.02% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Srinivas Tallapragada sold 1,269 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $262.35, for a total value of $332,922.15. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 42,678 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,196,573.30. The trade was a 2.89% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 28,534 shares of company stock worth $7,609,842. Insiders own 3.20% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Salesforce from $255.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. DA Davidson restated an "underperform" rating and issued a $200.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. UBS Group set a $404.00 target price on shares of Salesforce and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. Erste Group Bank cut Salesforce from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, June 5th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada lowered Salesforce from an "outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $420.00 to $275.00 in a report on Thursday, May 29th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $349.08.

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.