Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. Purchases 10,247 Shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. boosted its position in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 29.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 44,721 shares of the CRM provider's stock after purchasing an additional 10,247 shares during the period. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc.'s holdings in Salesforce were worth $11,768,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CRM. Aveo Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 44.7% during the fourth quarter. Aveo Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,605 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $422,000 after purchasing an additional 496 shares during the period. Westover Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Salesforce during the 4th quarter valued at about $207,000. Concentrum Wealth Management purchased a new stake in Salesforce in the 4th quarter valued at about $203,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Salesforce by 36.9% in the 4th quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 1,366,556 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $359,596,000 after acquiring an additional 368,603 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Natixis Advisors L.P. increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 1,157,304 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $304,531,000 after acquiring an additional 19,861 shares during the period. 80.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CRM has been the subject of a number of research reports. Citigroup boosted their price target on Salesforce from $265.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, February 26th. Wedbush lifted their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $280.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Salesforce from $260.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Argus upped their price target on Salesforce from $290.00 to $354.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. Finally, JMP Securities reiterated a "market outperform" rating and set a $342.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a report on Monday, April 15th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Salesforce has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $310.61.

Salesforce Price Performance

Salesforce stock traded up $1.53 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $273.66. The company had a trading volume of 4,033,233 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,571,602. Salesforce, Inc. has a 12-month low of $190.76 and a 12-month high of $318.71. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $294.61 and its 200-day simple moving average is $265.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 1.09. The company has a market capitalization of $265.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 65.16, a P/E/G ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 1.30.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 28th. The CRM provider reported $1.78 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.72 by $0.06. Salesforce had a return on equity of 10.42% and a net margin of 11.87%. The firm had revenue of $9.29 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.22 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.01 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.45 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.58%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 13th. Salesforce's dividend payout ratio is currently 9.52%.

Insider Activity

In other Salesforce news, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 2,425 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $273.15, for a total transaction of $662,388.75. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 5,856 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,599,566.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Salesforce news, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 2,425 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $273.15, for a total transaction of $662,388.75. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 5,856 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,599,566.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Srinivas Tallapragada sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $285.20, for a total transaction of $2,852,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 60,416 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $17,230,643.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 629,993 shares of company stock worth $184,255,474 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 3.70% of the company's stock.

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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