Janney Montgomery Scott LLC Buys 39,727 Shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Janney Montgomery Scott LLC raised its stake in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 18.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 257,068 shares of the CRM provider's stock after acquiring an additional 39,727 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC's holdings in Salesforce were worth $68,987,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of CRM. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. bought a new position in Salesforce during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Accredited Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Salesforce during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Wood Tarver Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce in the fourth quarter valued at $35,000. Finally, VSM Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new stake in Salesforce in the fourth quarter worth $45,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company's stock.

Salesforce Trading Down 3.2%

NYSE CRM opened at $258.25 on Monday. Salesforce, Inc. has a one year low of $227.77 and a one year high of $369.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 1.11. The company has a market capitalization of $246.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.38. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $268.09 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $299.72.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 28th. The CRM provider reported $2.58 earnings per share (EPS) 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 the consensus estimate of $9.74 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 15.96% and a return on equity of 12.34%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.44 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 10th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 18th will be given a dividend of $0.416 per share. This represents a $1.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.64%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 18th. Salesforce's payout ratio is 25.98%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CRM has been the subject of several research reports. Scotiabank lowered their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $400.00 to $345.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Wells Fargo & Company upped 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. Canaccord Genuity Group dropped their price target on Salesforce from $400.00 to $350.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Salesforce from $320.00 to $300.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, May 27th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic began coverage on Salesforce in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. They set a "buy" rating on the stock. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned 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.com, Salesforce has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $346.34.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 1,909 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $284.58, for a total transaction of $543,263.22. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 11,310 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,218,599.80. This represents a 14.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider R David Schmaier sold 6,959 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $253.31, for a total transaction of $1,762,784.29. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 36,090 shares in the company, valued at $9,141,957.90. This represents a 16.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 34,111 shares of company stock worth $9,299,283. 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.

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