Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Buys 295,681 Shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Key Points

• Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Salesforce Inc. by 4.9%, acquiring an additional 295,681 shares, bringing its total ownership to 6,362,035 shares worth approximately $1.71 billion.
• Salesforce's stock price declined by 3.4% to $240.63, with significant trading activity of nearly 10 million shares exchanged, surpassing its average volume.
• The company has reported a 7.6% year-over-year revenue increase of $9.83 billion for the latest quarter and recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.416 per share.

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 4.9% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,362,035 shares of the CRM provider's stock after purchasing an additional 295,681 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned approximately 0.66% of Salesforce worth $1,707,316,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. purchased a new stake in Salesforce during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Accredited Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Salesforce during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Wood Tarver Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Salesforce during the fourth quarter worth $35,000. Capital A Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Salesforce by 450.0% during the first quarter. Capital A Wealth Management LLC now owns 110 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares during the period. Finally, CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC raised its position in Salesforce by 314.8% during the first quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 112 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other Salesforce news, insider Srinivas Tallapragada sold 6,697 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.00, for a total transaction of $1,975,615.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 41,422 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $12,219,490. The trade was a 13.92% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Marc Benioff sold 2,250 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $259.67, for a total value of $584,257.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 11,955,566 shares in the company, valued at $3,104,501,823.22. This represents a 0.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 46,479 shares of company stock worth $12,457,591 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 3.20% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on CRM shares. Stephens reduced their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $311.00 to $309.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated a "sector perform" rating and set a $275.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Northland Securities reduced their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $423.00 to $396.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Salesforce from $255.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. Finally, 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. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, twenty-seven have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Salesforce has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $348.16.

Salesforce Stock Performance

NYSE:CRM traded down $0.79 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $240.09. 8,807,591 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,971,969. The stock has a market capitalization of $229.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.37. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $263.47 and its 200 day simple moving average is $279.50. 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 Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $230.00 and a fifty-two week high of $369.00.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly 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. Salesforce had a return on equity of 12.94% and a net margin of 16.08%. The company 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 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Cuts Dividend

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