Donaldson Capital Management LLC Has $1.72 Million Stake in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Donaldson Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 9.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 6,545 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after buying an additional 573 shares during the period. Donaldson Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $1,722,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Bear Mountain Capital Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Pacifica Partners Inc. lifted its stake in Salesforce by 333.3% in the fourth quarter. Pacifica Partners Inc. now owns 130 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. BKM Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the 4th quarter worth about $34,000. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 30.4% during the 4th quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 270 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 63 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Live Oak Investment Partners bought a new position in Salesforce during the fourth quarter worth about $36,000. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Salesforce

In related news, insider Srinivas Tallapragada sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.28, for a total transaction of $2,702,800.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 59,861 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,179,231.08. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Salesforce news, insider Srinivas Tallapragada sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.28, for a total value of $2,702,800.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 59,861 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,179,231.08. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 216 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $278.71, for a total value of $60,201.36. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 2,869 shares in the company, valued at $799,618.99. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 907,375 shares of company stock worth $262,519,346. 3.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CRM has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $345.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a report on Monday. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and issued a $350.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 12th. TheStreet upgraded shares of Salesforce from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Friday, January 19th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Salesforce from $310.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $306.26.

Salesforce Stock Performance

NYSE:CRM traded down $21.42 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $272.90. The stock had a trading volume of 18,353,955 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,700,898. Salesforce, Inc. has a 12-month low of $190.57 and a 12-month high of $318.71. The company has a quick ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $298.82 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $259.77. The stock has a market cap of $264.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 65.38, a P/E/G ratio of 2.26 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.22 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 10.42% and a net margin of 11.87%. The business’s revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.01 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.45 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The company 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 13th. Salesforce’s payout ratio is currently 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.