Stratos Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 24.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 34,393 shares of the CRM provider's stock after purchasing an additional 6,859 shares during the period. Stratos Investment Management LLC's holdings in Salesforce were worth $9,230,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. 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 boosted its stake in Salesforce by 926.4% in the fourth quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 4,256,211 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $1,422,979,000 after acquiring an additional 3,841,521 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Salesforce by 30,456.9% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,801,588 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $1,020,194,000 after acquiring an additional 3,789,147 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Salesforce by 42.5% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 7,791,015 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $2,604,770,000 after acquiring an additional 2,325,156 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in Salesforce by 18.3% in 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 during the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
A number of research analysts have weighed in on CRM shares. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $400.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. Northland Securities dropped their target price on shares of Salesforce from $423.00 to $396.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price on shares of Salesforce from $243.00 to $255.00 and gave the company an "underperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. 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. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Salesforce from $425.00 to $347.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $348.16.
Check Out Our Latest Report on CRM
Salesforce Trading Down 1.7%
Shares of CRM stock traded down $4.51 on Friday, hitting $259.46. 2,177,678 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,225,632. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.07. Salesforce Inc. has a one year low of $230.00 and a one year high of $369.00. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $272.43 and its 200 day simple moving average is $289.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $248.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.61, a P/E/G ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 1.36.
Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last released its 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 company 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 earned $2.44 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current year.
Salesforce Cuts Dividend
The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 10th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 18th were issued a dividend of $0.416 per share. This represents a $1.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.64%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 18th. Salesforce's dividend payout ratio is currently 25.98%.
Insider Buying and Selling at Salesforce
In other Salesforce news, insider Srinivas Tallapragada sold 6,697 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $295.00, for a total transaction of $1,975,615.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 41,422 shares of the company's stock, valued at $12,219,490. This represents a 13.92% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 1,525 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $253.66, for a total transaction of $386,831.50. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 12,211 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,097,442.26. The trade was a 11.10% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 35,284 shares of company stock worth $9,444,537 in the last quarter. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.
About Salesforce
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Free Report)
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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