Townsquare Capital LLC Acquires 4,312 Shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Key Points

• Townsquare Capital LLC increased its stake in Salesforce Inc. by 8.6%, acquiring an additional 4,312 shares during the first quarter, bringing its total holdings to 54,273 shares worth approximately $14.57 million.
• Multiple hedge funds, including DZ BANK AG and GAMMA Investing LLC, have dramatically increased their positions in Salesforce, indicating strong institutional interest in the stock.
• Salesforce's recent quarterly earnings surpassed expectations, reporting a net margin of 16.08% and revenue of $9.83 billion, a 7.6% increase year-over-year.

Townsquare Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 8.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 54,273 shares of the CRM provider's stock after acquiring an additional 4,312 shares during the quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC's holdings in Salesforce were worth $14,565,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 926.4% during 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 worth $1,422,979,000 after purchasing an additional 3,841,521 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in Salesforce by 30,456.9% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,801,588 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $1,020,194,000 after buying an additional 3,789,147 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in Salesforce by 18.3% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 11,224,927 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $3,752,830,000 after acquiring an additional 1,736,667 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in Salesforce by 1,744.0% in the 1st quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,820,262 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $488,486,000 after acquiring an additional 1,721,550 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in shares of Salesforce by 23.2% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,938,536 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $2,988,422,000 after acquiring an additional 1,683,233 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Srinivas Tallapragada sold 6,697 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider directly owned 41,422 shares in the company, valued at $12,219,490. The trade was a 13.92% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Marc Benioff sold 2,250 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $259.67, for a total transaction of $584,257.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 11,955,566 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,104,501,823.22. This trade represents a 0.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 46,479 shares of company stock valued at $12,457,591. Corporate insiders own 3.20% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Erste Group Bank cut shares of Salesforce from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 5th. DA Davidson reiterated an "underperform" rating and issued a $200.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price on Salesforce from $243.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock an "underperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a "market outperform" rating and set a $430.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $400.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, twenty-seven have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $348.16.

Salesforce Stock Performance

Shares of CRM stock opened at $240.63 on Friday. Salesforce Inc. has a 12 month low of $230.00 and a 12 month high of $369.00. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $263.97 and its 200-day simple moving average is $280.10. The firm has a market cap of $230.04 billion, a PE ratio of 37.66, a P/E/G ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

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 firm had revenue of $9.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $9.74 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.44 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 10th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 18th were paid a $0.416 dividend. This represents a $1.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 18th. Salesforce's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 25.98%.

About Salesforce

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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