Natixis Advisors LLC Purchases 33,371 Shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 985,770 shares of the CRM provider's stock after acquiring an additional 33,371 shares during the quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC owned 0.10% of Salesforce worth $269,814,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in shares of Salesforce by 26.9% in the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 14,376,536 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $4,329,925,000 after purchasing an additional 3,044,611 shares in the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC acquired a new position in Salesforce in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $910,220,000. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in Salesforce in the 1st quarter worth approximately $874,748,000. Veritas Asset Management LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the 3rd quarter valued at $733,805,000. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in shares of Salesforce by 48.3% in the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 5,906,877 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $1,518,658,000 after acquiring an additional 1,922,674 shares during the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have commented on CRM shares. Truist Financial restated a "buy" rating and issued a $315.00 target price (up previously from $300.00) on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. DA Davidson boosted their price target on Salesforce from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $325.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday. BNP Paribas raised shares of Salesforce to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Phillip Securities restated an "accumulate" rating and set a $305.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a report on Friday, August 30th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Salesforce currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $322.51.

Salesforce Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CRM traded down $6.39 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $325.26. 7,093,003 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,319,677. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $286.61 and its 200-day simple moving average is $266.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.04. Salesforce, Inc. has a 12 month low of $212.00 and a 12 month high of $348.86. The firm has a market cap of $310.95 billion, a PE ratio of 56.57, a PEG ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 1.29.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The CRM provider reported $2.56 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $9.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.22 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 15.44% and a return on equity of 12.01%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.63 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 8th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 18th were paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 18th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. Salesforce's payout ratio is 27.83%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Brian Millham sold 4,056 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $261.50, for a total transaction of $1,060,644.00. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Amy E. Weaver sold 897 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $285.29, for a total transaction of $255,905.13. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 52,930 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,100,399.70. The trade was a 1.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 144,373 shares of company stock worth $41,250,680 over the last ninety days. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.