Stratos Investment Management LLC Increases Holdings in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Stratos Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 24.9% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 34,393 shares of the CRM provider's stock after acquiring an additional 6,859 shares during the quarter. Stratos Investment Management LLC's holdings in Salesforce were worth $9,230,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. acquired a new position in Salesforce during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Accredited Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Abound Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce in the first quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Wood Tarver Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Finally, VSM Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Salesforce

In other news, insider Srinivas Tallapragada sold 6,697 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 14th. The stock was 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 directly owned 41,422 shares of the company's stock, valued at $12,219,490. This trade represents a 13.92% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Parker Harris sold 1,142 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, June 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $262.35, for a total value of $299,603.70. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 136,824 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $35,895,776.40. This represents a 0.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 33,034 shares of company stock worth $8,833,235. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on CRM shares. DA Davidson reaffirmed an "underperform" rating and issued a $200.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on Salesforce from $320.00 to $295.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 30th. Canaccord Genuity Group lowered their price objective on Salesforce from $400.00 to $350.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. Erste Group Bank downgraded Salesforce from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 5th. Finally, Northland Securities decreased their target price on shares of Salesforce from $423.00 to $396.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $349.08.

Salesforce Stock Down 0.9%

Shares of CRM traded down $2.55 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $271.10. The stock had a trading volume of 6,371,001 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,540,673. Salesforce Inc. has a 12 month low of $230.00 and a 12 month high of $369.00. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $272.48 and a 200 day simple moving average of $290.51. 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 company has a market capitalization of $259.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.43, a P/E/G ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 1.36.

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 return on equity of 12.94% and a net margin of 16.08%. The business had revenue of $9.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $9.74 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.44 EPS. The business's revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 10th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.416 per share. This represents a $1.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.61%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 18th. Salesforce's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.