West Oak Capital LLC Purchases 140 Shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

West Oak Capital LLC lifted its position in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 23.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 725 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 140 shares during the period. West Oak Capital LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $197,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fairfield Bush & CO. boosted its stake in Salesforce by 8.7% during the first quarter. Fairfield Bush & CO. now owns 4,468 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $949,000 after acquiring an additional 357 shares in the last quarter. Roundview Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 18.8% during the first quarter. Roundview Capital LLC now owns 24,037 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $5,104,000 after purchasing an additional 3,809 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd boosted its position in shares of Salesforce by 42.8% in the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 621 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $132,000 after purchasing an additional 186 shares in the last quarter. Ergoteles LLC bought a new position in Salesforce during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $455,000. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its stake in Salesforce by 21.3% during the first quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 860,950 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $182,797,000 after buying an additional 151,440 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CRM has been the topic of several research reports. Morgan Stanley upgraded Salesforce from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $290.00 to $350.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 21st. Citigroup raised 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. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Salesforce from $325.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Argus increased their price target on Salesforce from $290.00 to $354.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Salesforce from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $304.32.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Parker Harris sold 4,200 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $306.50, for a total transaction of $1,287,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 105,837 shares in the company, valued at $32,439,040.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, insider Parker Harris sold 4,200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $306.50, for a total value of $1,287,300.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 105,837 shares in the company, valued at $32,439,040.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 216 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $278.71, for a total value of $60,201.36. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 2,869 shares in the company, valued at approximately $799,618.99. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 898,507 shares of company stock valued at $255,293,063. Insiders own 3.70% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Stock Up 0.0 %

Shares of NYSE:CRM traded up $0.02 during trading on Thursday, reaching $301.40. The stock had a trading volume of 1,292,795 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,704,153. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $293.59 and its 200 day simple moving average is $251.75. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. Salesforce, Inc. has a one year low of $187.31 and a one year high of $318.71. The company has a market capitalization of $292.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 71.72, a PEG ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 1.28.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The CRM provider reported $1.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.72 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $9.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.22 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 11.87% and a return on equity of 10.42%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.01 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 13th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.52%.

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.