Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) Shares Purchased by Asset Management One Co. Ltd.

Asset Management One Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 5.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 519,347 shares of the CRM provider's stock after acquiring an additional 27,310 shares during the period. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. owned approximately 0.05% of Salesforce worth $139,372,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in CRM. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. purchased a new position in Salesforce in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Accredited Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Salesforce during the 4th quarter worth approximately $35,000. Wood Tarver Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Salesforce in the 4th quarter worth approximately $35,000. Finally, VSM Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in Salesforce in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company's stock.

Salesforce Stock Performance

CRM stock opened at $263.14 on Tuesday. Salesforce Inc. has a 1 year low of $230.00 and a 1 year high of $369.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $251.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.18, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.38. 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 stock's fifty day moving average is $268.69 and its two-hundred day moving average is $296.11.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 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 the consensus estimate of $9.74 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.44 EPS. Salesforce's quarterly revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 10th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 18th will be issued a $0.416 dividend. This represents a $1.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 18th. Salesforce's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.98%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CRM has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on shares of Salesforce from $425.00 to $375.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Scotiabank dropped their price target on shares of Salesforce from $400.00 to $345.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 17th. UBS Group set a $404.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Salesforce from $340.00 to $385.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. Finally, Oppenheimer reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $370.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a report on Tuesday, June 10th. Two equities research 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, Salesforce currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $349.08.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Salesforce news, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 1,256 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $253.31, for a total transaction of $318,157.36. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 12,826 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,248,954.06. The trade was a 8.92% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Miguel Milano sold 705 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $279.44, for a total transaction of $197,005.20. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 9,323 shares in the company, valued at $2,605,219.12. This represents a 7.03% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 24,992 shares of company stock valued at $6,704,198 in the last three months. 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.

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