Park Avenue Securities LLC Buys 4,947 Shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Park Avenue Securities LLC grew its holdings in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 16.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 35,655 shares of the CRM provider's stock after purchasing an additional 4,947 shares during the quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC's holdings in Salesforce were worth $9,568,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Salesforce during the 4th quarter worth $3,599,867,000. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main raised its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 3,841,521 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in Salesforce by 30,456.9% during the first 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 last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Salesforce during the fourth quarter worth about $1,173,564,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Salesforce by 42.5% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 7,791,015 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $2,604,770,000 after purchasing an additional 2,325,156 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.43% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on CRM. UBS Group cut their price target on Salesforce from $320.00 to $300.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 27th. Needham & Company LLC restated a "buy" rating and issued a $400.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Salesforce from $255.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $430.00 to $400.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an "overweight" rating and set a $404.00 price target (up from $393.00) on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, twenty-seven have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $346.34.

Salesforce Stock Down 0.8%

NYSE CRM traded down $2.15 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $272.36. The stock had a trading volume of 5,725,209 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,586,570. The stock has a market cap of $260.38 billion, a PE ratio of 44.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.38. Salesforce, Inc. has a 1 year low of $227.77 and a 1 year high of $369.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 1.11. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $266.57 and a 200 day moving average price of $302.19.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 28th. The CRM provider reported $2.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.55 by $0.03. Salesforce had a return on equity of 12.34% and a net margin of 15.96%. The firm had revenue of $9.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $9.74 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.44 EPS. The company's revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 10th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 18th will be paid a $0.416 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 18th. This represents a $1.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.61%. Salesforce's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.98%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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 stock was sold at an average price of $295.00, for a total transaction of $1,975,615.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 41,422 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $12,219,490. This represents a 13.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Amy E. Weaver sold 6,221 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $277.37, for a total value of $1,725,518.77. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 46,750 shares of the company's stock, valued at $12,967,047.50. This represents a 11.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 40,332 shares of company stock worth $11,024,802 over the last quarter. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.