GAMMA Investing LLC Acquires 1,725 Shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 13.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 14,166 shares of the CRM provider's stock after purchasing an additional 1,725 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC's holdings in Salesforce were worth $3,802,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in CRM. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Salesforce in the 4th quarter worth $3,599,867,000. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main grew its holdings 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 worth $1,422,979,000 after acquiring an additional 3,841,521 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Salesforce in the 4th quarter worth $1,173,564,000. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in Salesforce by 42.5% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 7,791,015 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $2,604,770,000 after acquiring an additional 2,325,156 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in Salesforce by 18.3% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 11,224,927 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $3,752,830,000 after acquiring an additional 1,736,667 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Salesforce

In other news, insider Srinivas Tallapragada sold 6,697 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $295.00, for a total value of $1,975,615.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 41,422 shares in the company, valued at $12,219,490. The trade was a 13.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider R David Schmaier sold 6,959 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the insider now owns 36,090 shares of the company's stock, 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 sold 26,284 shares of company stock worth $6,996,762. 3.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CRM has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. DA Davidson reissued an "underperform" rating and issued a $200.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on shares of Salesforce from $367.00 to $350.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, May 27th. Oppenheimer reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $370.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a report on Tuesday, June 10th. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Salesforce from $320.00 to $295.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 30th. Finally, Macquarie reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $320.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Salesforce currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $349.08.

Salesforce Stock Up 0.7%

NYSE CRM traded up $1.98 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $272.72. 21,736,713 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,529,239. Salesforce Inc. has a 52-week low of $230.00 and a 52-week high of $369.00. The firm has a market cap of $260.72 billion, a PE ratio of 42.68, a PEG ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 1.38. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $270.38 and a 200 day simple moving average of $294.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 1.07.

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 for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.55 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $9.83 billion during 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%. Salesforce's revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.44 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 10th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.416 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 18th. This represents a $1.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.61%. 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.