DAVENPORT & Co LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

DAVENPORT & Co LLC lifted its position in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 181.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 18,799 shares of the CRM provider's stock after purchasing an additional 12,120 shares during the period. DAVENPORT & Co LLC's holdings in Salesforce were worth $5,045,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in CRM. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,955,353 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $6,656,078,000 after acquiring an additional 175,035 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in Salesforce by 18.3% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 11,224,927 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $3,752,830,000 after purchasing an additional 1,736,667 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Salesforce during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $3,599,867,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in Salesforce by 23.2% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,938,536 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $2,988,422,000 after buying an additional 1,683,233 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its holdings in Salesforce by 7.5% in the 4th 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 worth $2,894,673,000 after buying an additional 602,445 shares during the period. 80.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on CRM. Guggenheim upgraded Salesforce from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, April 21st. Royal Bank Of Canada cut shares of Salesforce from an "outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $420.00 to $275.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price target 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 lowered their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $423.00 to $396.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 29th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Salesforce from $315.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. Two equities research 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Salesforce presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $349.08.

Salesforce Stock Performance

Shares of CRM traded up $2.37 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $271.58. 5,031,804 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,543,873. The stock has a market cap of $259.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.50, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.36. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $272.21 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $292.32. Salesforce Inc. has a 1 year low of $230.00 and a 1 year 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 announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 28th. The CRM provider reported $2.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.55 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $9.83 billion during 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 company's quarterly revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.44 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Cuts Dividend

The firm 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 0.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 18th. Salesforce's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.98%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 2,250 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $272.48, for a total transaction of $613,080.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 11,862,457 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,232,282,283.36. The trade was a 0.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Srinivas Tallapragada sold 6,697 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.00, for a total value of $1,975,615.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 28,534 shares of company stock valued at $7,609,842 in the last 90 days. 3.20% of the stock is 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.