Sonora Investment Management Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 16.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 22,573 shares of the CRM provider's stock after purchasing an additional 3,239 shares during the quarter. Sonora Investment Management Group LLC's holdings in Salesforce were worth $7,547,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in CRM. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Heritage Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Salesforce in the second quarter valued at about $638,000. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund grew its position in Salesforce by 130.7% in the second quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 187,072 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $48,096,000 after acquiring an additional 105,972 shares during the last quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Salesforce by 5.5% during the second quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 3,709 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $954,000 after acquiring an additional 195 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Centaurus Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 23.4% in the second quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 12,464 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $3,204,000 after acquiring an additional 2,365 shares during the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Analyst Ratings Changes
CRM has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $415.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Salesforce from $275.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Oppenheimer restated an "outperform" rating and set a $415.00 price objective (up previously from $385.00) on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Northland Securities reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $440.00 target price (up from $400.00) on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Loop Capital boosted their price target on Salesforce from $340.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, thirty-one have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Salesforce presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $377.63.
Read Our Latest Research Report on Salesforce
Salesforce Stock Down 0.5 %
CRM stock traded down $1.78 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $341.80. 5,776,873 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,314,254. Salesforce, Inc. has a 52 week low of $212.00 and a 52 week high of $369.00. The company has a market cap of $327.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 56.22, a P/E/G ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 1.30. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $338.68 and its 200-day moving average price is $296.75. The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.
Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, December 3rd. The CRM provider reported $2.41 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $2.44 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $9.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.35 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 12.34% and a net margin of 15.96%. The company's revenue was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.62 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Salesforce Announces Dividend
The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 18th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 18th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.47%. Salesforce's payout ratio is 26.32%.
Insider Buying and Selling
In other Salesforce news, CFO Amy E. Weaver sold 6,221 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $343.00, for a total value of $2,133,803.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 53,861 shares in the company, valued at $18,474,323. This represents a 10.35 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Parker Harris sold 3,970 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $296.74, for a total transaction of $1,178,057.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 119,402 shares in the company, valued at approximately $35,431,349.48. This represents a 3.22 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 1,108,669 shares of company stock worth $383,286,905. 3.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.
About Salesforce
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Free Report)
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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