Diversify Advisory Services LLC Boosts Stock Position in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Diversify Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 22.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 8,977 shares of the CRM provider's stock after acquiring an additional 1,619 shares during the period. Diversify Advisory Services LLC's holdings in Salesforce were worth $2,404,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Salesforce during the 4th quarter worth about $3,599,867,000. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main lifted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 926.4% in the 4th quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 4,256,211 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $1,422,979,000 after purchasing an additional 3,841,521 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 30,456.9% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,801,588 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $1,020,194,000 after purchasing an additional 3,789,147 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 42.5% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 7,791,015 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $2,604,770,000 after purchasing an additional 2,325,156 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 18.3% in 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. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Salesforce Price Performance

Shares of Salesforce stock traded up $2.52 on Friday, hitting $262.40. 6,376,432 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,555,507. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $270.45 and its 200 day simple moving average is $286.50. 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 company has a market cap of $250.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.06, a P/E/G ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.36. Salesforce Inc. has a 12-month low of $230.00 and a 12-month high of $369.00.

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 firm 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 company's revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.44 EPS. Analysts expect that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 10th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 18th were paid a $0.416 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 18th. This represents a $1.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.63%. Salesforce's dividend payout ratio is presently 25.98%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CRM has been the subject of a number of research reports. Guggenheim upgraded Salesforce from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, April 21st. Stephens decreased their price objective on Salesforce from $311.00 to $309.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 30th. Erste Group Bank cut Salesforce from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, June 5th. Westpark Capital restated a "buy" rating and issued a $320.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on Salesforce from $425.00 to $347.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 29th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, twenty-seven have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Salesforce has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $348.16.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 2,250 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $272.48, for a total value of $613,080.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 11,862,457 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,232,282,283.36. This represents a 0.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Srinivas Tallapragada sold 6,697 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the insider directly owned 41,422 shares of the company's stock, valued at $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. In the last three months, insiders have sold 33,819 shares of company stock worth $9,111,823. Corporate insiders own 3.20% of the company's stock.

Salesforce Company 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.