State of Alaska Department of Revenue Grows Position in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

State of Alaska Department of Revenue raised its position in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 2.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 112,140 shares of the CRM provider's stock after acquiring an additional 3,130 shares during the quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue's holdings in Salesforce were worth $30,093,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Tallon Kerry Patrick purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $236,000. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 13.7% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA purchased a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the 4th quarter worth about $104,173,000. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in Salesforce by 12.6% in the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC acquired a new position in Salesforce during the fourth quarter worth about $204,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CRM has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Bank of America reduced their target price on shares of Salesforce from $440.00 to $400.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $430.00 to $400.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Erste Group Bank downgraded Salesforce from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, June 5th. Macquarie reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $320.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Westpark Capital restated a "buy" rating and set a $320.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $346.34.

Salesforce Trading Down 0.5%

CRM opened at $262.51 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $268.43 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $299.00. Salesforce Inc. has a 1-year low of $229.23 and a 1-year high of $369.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $250.96 billion, a PE ratio of 41.08, a PEG ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.38.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 28th. The CRM provider reported $2.58 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $9.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $9.74 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.44 EPS. Salesforce's revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 10th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.416 per share. 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 presently 25.98%.

Insider Activity

In other Salesforce news, CEO Brian Millham sold 3,937 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $284.58, for a total value of $1,120,391.46. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 5,518 shares in the company, valued at $1,570,312.44. The trade was a 41.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Miguel Milano sold 705 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $279.44, for a total value of $197,005.20. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 9,323 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,605,219.12. The trade was a 7.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 34,111 shares of company stock worth $9,299,283 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 3.20% of the company's stock.

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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