Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. raised its holdings in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 130.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 44,515 shares of the CRM provider's stock after buying an additional 25,215 shares during the period. Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S.'s holdings in Salesforce were worth $11,946,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Woodard & Co. Asset Management Group Inc. ADV raised its holdings in Salesforce by 8.5% in the first quarter. Woodard & Co. Asset Management Group Inc. ADV now owns 2,529 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $679,000 after acquiring an additional 198 shares in the last quarter. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Salesforce by 2.5% in the 1st quarter. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC now owns 5,434 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $1,458,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Salesforce by 5.9% in the 1st quarter. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC now owns 24,866 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $6,673,000 after purchasing an additional 1,387 shares in the last quarter. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. raised its stake in Salesforce by 94.2% during the first quarter. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. now owns 1,208 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $324,000 after buying an additional 586 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Corton Capital Inc. acquired a new stake in Salesforce during the first quarter valued at approximately $227,000. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Insider Activity at Salesforce
In other news, insider Srinivas Tallapragada sold 6,697 shares of the company'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 in the company, valued at approximately $12,219,490. This represents a 13.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Marc Benioff sold 2,250 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $271.69, for a total transaction of $611,302.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 11,862,457 shares in the company, valued at $3,222,910,942.33. The trade was a 0.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 37,979 shares of company stock worth $10,303,399 over the last three months. 3.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.
Salesforce Price Performance
CRM stock traded down $4.09 during trading on Thursday, hitting $260.72. The company had a trading volume of 3,477,764 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,071,274. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $266.97 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $283.11. 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 $249.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.79, a P/E/G ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.36. 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 issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 28th. The CRM provider reported $2.58 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.55 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $9.83 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.74 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 16.08% and a return on equity of 12.94%. The firm'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 company earned $2.44 EPS. Equities research 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 $0.416 dividend. This represents a $1.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 18th. Salesforce's payout ratio is currently 25.98%.
Analyst Ratings Changes
Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on CRM shares. DA Davidson reissued an "underperform" rating and set a $200.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. Northland Securities dropped their target price on shares of Salesforce from $423.00 to $396.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 29th. UBS Group set a $404.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 18th. Stephens dropped their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $311.00 to $309.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 30th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group dropped their price target on Salesforce from $400.00 to $350.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, twenty-seven have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $348.16.
Read Our Latest Stock Report on Salesforce
Salesforce Company Profile
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Free Report)
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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