King Luther Capital Management Corp Increases Stock Position in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Key Points

• King Luther Capital Management Corp increased its stake in Salesforce Inc. by 12.5%, acquiring an additional 31,954 shares, bringing its total holdings to 287,648 shares valued at approximately $77.2 million.
• Insider Srinivas Tallapragada sold 6,697 shares of Salesforce stock, while CEO Marc Benioff sold 2,250 shares, reflecting a slight decrease in their respective positions.
• Salesforce reported earnings of $2.58 per share for the last quarter, surpassing expectations, with revenues of $9.83 billion, an annual growth rate of 7.6%.

King Luther Capital Management Corp grew its position in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 12.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 287,648 shares of the CRM provider's stock after acquiring an additional 31,954 shares during the period. King Luther Capital Management Corp's holdings in Salesforce were worth $77,193,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of CRM. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Salesforce by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 87,913,628 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $23,592,501,000 after acquiring an additional 1,383,942 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 1,736,667 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 5.1% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 9,014,148 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $2,419,037,000 after buying an additional 437,435 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 1,683,233 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its stake in Salesforce by 7.5% during 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 valued at $2,894,673,000 after purchasing an additional 602,445 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.43% of the company's stock.

Salesforce Price Performance

CRM stock traded down $8.05 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $232.46. 10,723,629 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,062,013. 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's 50-day moving average price is $263.47 and its 200-day moving average price is $278.75. The stock has a market cap of $222.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.38, 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 announced its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $9.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $9.74 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.44 earnings per share. Salesforce's revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Cuts Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Salesforce news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 2,250 shares of the firm'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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 11,955,566 shares in the company, valued at $3,104,501,823.22. This trade represents a 0.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 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 transaction of $1,975,615.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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. Over the last three months, insiders sold 48,729 shares of company stock valued at $12,998,356. 3.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently issued reports on CRM shares. UBS Group set a $404.00 target price on shares of Salesforce and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. Westpark Capital reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $320.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. Guggenheim upgraded shares of Salesforce from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Mizuho dropped their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $425.00 to $380.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 15th. Finally, Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Salesforce from $425.00 to $347.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock 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 issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $348.16.

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.