Dillon & Associates Inc. Has $7.89 Million Stock Position in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Key Points

• Dillon & Associates Inc. increased its stake in Salesforce Inc. by 6.4% during Q1, now holding a total of 29,430 shares valued at approximately $7.89 million.
• Insider transactions revealed CEO Marc Benioff sold 2,250 shares recently, reducing his ownership slightly to about 11.96 million shares.
• Salesforce reported $2.58 EPS for the last quarter, exceeding estimates, and projected growth with a consensus price target of $348.16 from analysts.

Dillon & Associates Inc. increased its position in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 6.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 29,430 shares of the CRM provider's stock after buying an additional 1,779 shares during the quarter. Salesforce comprises about 1.2% of Dillon & Associates Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 26th biggest position. Dillon & Associates Inc.'s holdings in Salesforce were worth $7,887,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in CRM. Notis McConarty Edward increased its holdings in Salesforce by 71.6% during the 1st quarter. Notis McConarty Edward now owns 3,844 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $1,032,000 after purchasing an additional 1,604 shares in the last quarter. Alecta Tjanstepension Omsesidigt increased its holdings in Salesforce by 121.9% during the 1st quarter. Alecta Tjanstepension Omsesidigt now owns 355,000 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $95,222,000 after purchasing an additional 195,000 shares in the last quarter. Delaney Dennis R increased its holdings in Salesforce by 66.1% during the 1st quarter. Delaney Dennis R now owns 5,694 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $1,528,000 after purchasing an additional 2,266 shares in the last quarter. Journey Strategic Wealth LLC increased its holdings in Salesforce by 34.5% during the 1st quarter. Journey Strategic Wealth LLC now owns 4,948 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $1,328,000 after purchasing an additional 1,270 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mathes Company Inc. increased its holdings in Salesforce by 396.9% during the 1st quarter. Mathes Company Inc. now owns 12,298 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $3,300,000 after purchasing an additional 9,823 shares in the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Salesforce

In related news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 2,250 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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. The trade was a 0.02% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Srinivas Tallapragada sold 6,697 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 46,479 shares of company stock valued at $12,457,591 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 3.00% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CRM has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Mizuho decreased their price objective on Salesforce from $425.00 to $380.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 15th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a "market outperform" rating and issued a $430.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a report on Friday, July 11th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating and issued a $275.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a report on Monday, July 14th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $404.00 target price (up from $393.00) on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, May 29th. Finally, Northland Securities reduced their target price on Salesforce from $423.00 to $396.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 29th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Salesforce has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $348.16.

Salesforce Stock Performance

Salesforce stock opened at $240.09 on Monday. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $263.47 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $278.75. 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 stock has a market cap of $229.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.57, a PEG ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.37. 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 released 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. Salesforce had a net margin of 16.08% and a return on equity of 12.94%. The firm had revenue of $9.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.74 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.44 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 10th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 18th were issued a dividend of $0.416 per share. This represents a $1.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 18th. Salesforce's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.98%.

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.

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