Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) Shares Bought by PNC Financial Services Group Inc.

Key Points

• PNC Financial Services Group Inc. has increased its stake in Salesforce Inc. by 4.4%, now holding 263,501 shares worth approximately $70.71 million.
• Salesforce reported a quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of $2.58, beating analyst expectations and showing a 7.6% year-over-year revenue growth.
• Recent insider activity includes CEO Marc Benioff selling 2,250 shares for about $584,258, while a total of 39,729 shares were sold by insiders in the last three months.

PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its position in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 4.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 263,501 shares of the CRM provider's stock after acquiring an additional 11,075 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc.'s holdings in Salesforce were worth $70,713,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings 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 worth $3,752,830,000 after purchasing an additional 1,736,667 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in Salesforce by 23.2% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,938,536 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $2,988,422,000 after acquiring an additional 1,683,233 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its holdings in Salesforce by 7.5% in the fourth 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 acquiring an additional 602,445 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Salesforce by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 8,598,989 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $2,874,900,000 after acquiring an additional 114,278 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in Salesforce by 42.5% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 7,791,015 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $2,604,770,000 after acquiring an additional 2,325,156 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on CRM. JMP Securities reissued a "market outperform" rating and issued a $430.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Friday, July 11th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $350.00 to $335.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. DA Davidson restated an "underperform" rating and issued a $200.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $400.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective 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. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Salesforce currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $348.16.

Insider Buying and Selling at Salesforce

In other Salesforce news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 2,250 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $251.94, for a total transaction of $566,865.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 11,911,571 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,001,001,197.74. The trade was a 0.02% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 41,979 shares of company stock worth $11,330,746. 3.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Salesforce Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of NYSE:CRM traded up $1.47 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $252.21. 4,399,864 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,950,044. 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 company has a market cap of $241.11 billion, a PE ratio of 39.47, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.37. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $266.04 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $281.65. Salesforce Inc. has a twelve month low of $230.00 and a twelve month high of $369.00.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last posted its 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. The business 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 business's quarterly revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.44 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 10th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 18th were given a dividend of $0.416 per share. This represents a $1.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 18th. Salesforce's dividend payout ratio is currently 25.98%.

About Salesforce

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.