Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Has $2.99 Billion Position in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 23.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 8,938,536 shares of the CRM provider's stock after acquiring an additional 1,683,233 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned 0.93% of Salesforce worth $2,988,422,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,955,353 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $6,656,078,000 after acquiring an additional 175,035 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 12,453,872 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $4,163,703,000 after acquiring an additional 177,321 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Salesforce during the fourth quarter worth about $3,599,867,000. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 42.5% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 7,791,015 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $2,604,770,000 after acquiring an additional 2,325,156 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 10.5% during the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 6,593,295 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $2,204,336,000 after acquiring an additional 628,593 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.43% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CRM has been the subject of several recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Salesforce from $310.00 to $255.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Salesforce from $405.00 to $393.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Salesforce from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their target price for the company from $380.00 to $400.00 in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $400.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Friday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, thirty-one have issued a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $351.37.

Salesforce Stock Performance

CRM traded up $3.17 during trading on Friday, hitting $267.87. The stock had a trading volume of 5,649,322 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,824,128. The firm has a market cap of $257.42 billion, a PE ratio of 44.06, a P/E/G ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. Salesforce, Inc. has a 12 month low of $212.00 and a 12 month high of $369.00. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $273.75 and a 200-day simple moving average of $308.54.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 24th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th were given a dividend of $0.42 per share. This is a positive change from Salesforce's previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.63%. Salesforce's payout ratio is currently 26.10%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Salesforce news, insider Miguel Milano sold 458 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.97, for a total transaction of $141,050.26. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 5,864 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,805,936.08. The trade was a 7.24 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Amy E. Weaver sold 6,221 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $335.94, for a total transaction of $2,089,882.74. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 46,750 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $15,705,195. This represents a 11.74 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 52,051 shares of company stock valued at $15,027,714 in the last quarter. Insiders own 3.20% of the company's stock.

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.