U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC Grows Position in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 6.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 18,276 shares of the CRM provider's stock after purchasing an additional 1,146 shares during the quarter. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings in Salesforce were worth $4,905,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Financial Counselors Inc. raised its stake in Salesforce by 2.3% in the first quarter. Financial Counselors Inc. now owns 175,631 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $47,132,000 after purchasing an additional 3,869 shares in the last quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC raised its stake in Salesforce by 9.5% in the first quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 32,180 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $8,636,000 after purchasing an additional 2,796 shares in the last quarter. Capital Advisors Inc. OK raised its stake in Salesforce by 11.1% in the first quarter. Capital Advisors Inc. OK now owns 873 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $234,000 after purchasing an additional 87 shares in the last quarter. Heritage Wealth Management Inc. grew its position in Salesforce by 11.0% in the first quarter. Heritage Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,635 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $707,000 after acquiring an additional 262 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Salesforce by 6.4% in the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,589,450 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $426,545,000 after acquiring an additional 95,957 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Barclays cut their price target on Salesforce from $425.00 to $347.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. Northland Securities decreased their price objective on Salesforce from $423.00 to $396.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 29th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $404.00 price target (up previously from $393.00) on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, May 29th. Stephens reduced their price objective on Salesforce from $311.00 to $309.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 30th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price target on Salesforce from $315.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, twenty-seven have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $348.16.

Salesforce Trading Down 2.2%

Salesforce stock traded down $5.74 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $258.23. The company's stock had a trading volume of 7,004,264 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,540,561. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $272.09 and a 200-day moving average price of $289.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 1.07. Salesforce Inc. has a 12 month low of $230.00 and a 12 month high of $369.00. The stock has a market cap of $246.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.36.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 28th. The CRM provider reported $2.58 earnings per share (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 quarter last year, the business earned $2.44 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 10th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 18th were given a $0.416 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 18th. This represents a $1.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.64%. Salesforce's dividend payout ratio is currently 25.98%.

Insider Transactions at Salesforce

In other news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 2,250 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $271.69, for a total value of $611,302.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 11,862,457 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,222,910,942.33. This trade represents a 0.02% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Parker Harris sold 1,142 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $262.35, for a total value of $299,603.70. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 136,824 shares in the company, 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 35,284 shares of company stock worth $9,444,537. Corporate insiders own 3.20% of the company's stock.

Salesforce Company 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.