MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB Acquires 1,888 Shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB raised its stake in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 6.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 32,807 shares of the CRM provider's stock after buying an additional 1,888 shares during the quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB's holdings in Salesforce were worth $8,804,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Salesforce in the fourth quarter valued at about $3,599,867,000. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main raised its stake in shares of Salesforce by 926.4% during 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 purchasing an additional 3,841,521 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,173,564,000. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Salesforce by 42.5% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 7,791,015 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $2,604,770,000 after buying an additional 2,325,156 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its position in Salesforce by 18.3% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 11,224,927 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $3,752,830,000 after acquiring an additional 1,736,667 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have issued reports on the stock. Guggenheim raised shares of Salesforce from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $425.00 to $347.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Stephens lowered their target price on shares of Salesforce from $311.00 to $309.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price target on Salesforce from $243.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock an "underperform" rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Oppenheimer reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $370.00 price target (down previously from $380.00) on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $343.32.

Salesforce Stock Performance

CRM stock traded down $1.89 during trading on Friday, reaching $265.03. 12,373,506 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,790,605. Salesforce, Inc. has a twelve month low of $216.06 and a twelve month high of $369.00. The company has a market capitalization of $254.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.42. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $267.31 and a 200-day simple moving average of $304.75. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 28th. The CRM provider reported $2.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.55 by $0.03. Salesforce had a return on equity of 12.34% and a net margin of 15.96%. The business 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 business earned $2.44 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 24th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th were given a dividend of $0.42 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 10th. This is an increase from Salesforce's previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.63%. Salesforce's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.98%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Salesforce news, insider Miguel Milano sold 705 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $279.44, for a total transaction of $197,005.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 9,323 shares in the company, valued at $2,605,219.12. This trade represents a 7.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Parker Harris sold 3,273 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $284.58, for a total transaction of $931,430.34. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 125,146 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $35,614,048.68. This represents a 2.55% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 46,553 shares of company stock valued at $12,897,323 over the last three months. 3.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.