Capital Investment Advisory Services LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Capital Investment Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 6.9% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 2,430 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 156 shares during the quarter. Capital Investment Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $639,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Cerity Partners LLC grew its position in Salesforce by 1,254.7% in the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 3,483,670 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $916,693,000 after acquiring an additional 3,226,512 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 23,653.7% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,406,220 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $370,033,000 after buying an additional 1,400,300 shares in the last quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC lifted its position in Salesforce by 47.5% in the 3rd quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC now owns 2,499,630 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $506,875,000 after buying an additional 804,634 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in Salesforce by 330.0% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 935,885 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $189,779,000 after acquiring an additional 718,245 shares during the last quarter. Finally, J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $114,521,000. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Mizuho reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $345.00 target price (up previously from $325.00) on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Salesforce from $310.00 to $355.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. TheStreet raised Salesforce from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Friday, January 19th. Bank of America raised their price target on Salesforce from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $350.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $310.61.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.94, for a total transaction of $4,064,100.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 12,827,327 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,475,435,977.38. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Salesforce news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.94, for a total value of $4,064,100.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 12,827,327 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,475,435,977.38. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Srinivas Tallapragada sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $283.12, for a total transaction of $2,831,200.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 60,416 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,104,977.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 596,379 shares of company stock valued at $175,587,970. 3.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Salesforce Stock Performance

Shares of Salesforce stock opened at $273.83 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 1.09. The stock has a market cap of $265.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 65.20, a PEG ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 1.28. Salesforce, Inc. has a 1 year low of $190.57 and a 1 year high of $318.71. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $297.00 and its 200 day moving average is $262.79.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The CRM provider reported $1.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.72 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $9.29 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.22 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 11.87% and a return on equity of 10.42%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.01 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 14th were issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 13th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.58%. Salesforce’s payout ratio is 9.52%.

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.