Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) Shares Bought by Lord Abbett & CO. LLC

Lord Abbett & CO. LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 76.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 323,810 shares of the CRM provider's stock after buying an additional 140,208 shares during the period. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC's holdings in Salesforce were worth $86,898,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in Salesforce by 13.7% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 25,668 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $8,582,000 after buying an additional 3,102 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 12.6% in the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,827 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $611,000 after acquiring an additional 205 shares in the last quarter. Jump Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce during the fourth quarter worth about $361,000. Acorns Advisers LLC purchased a new position in Salesforce during the fourth quarter worth about $227,000. Finally, Evergreen Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Salesforce by 37.3% in the fourth quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 35,179 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $11,776,000 after purchasing an additional 9,552 shares during the period. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CRM has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Stephens dropped their target price on Salesforce from $311.00 to $309.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 30th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $404.00 price target (up previously from $393.00) on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, May 29th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $315.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Salesforce from $320.00 to $295.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 30th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on Salesforce from $350.00 to $335.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Salesforce currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $346.84.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Salesforce news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 2,250 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $260.30, for a total value of $585,675.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 11,955,566 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,112,033,829.80. This represents a 0.02% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders sold 44,282 shares of company stock valued at $11,554,754 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 3.00% of the company's stock.

Salesforce Stock Performance

Salesforce stock opened at $237.14 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $226.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.37. Salesforce Inc. has a 12 month low of $226.48 and a 12 month high of $369.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 1.07. The stock's 50-day moving average is $261.72 and its 200-day moving average is $277.44.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly 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. Salesforce had a net margin of 16.08% and a return on equity of 12.94%. The firm had revenue of $9.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.74 billion. During the same quarter last 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. Equities analysts anticipate 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 was paid on Thursday, July 10th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 18th were given a $0.416 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 18th. This represents a $1.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. Salesforce's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.98%.

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.

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