Certuity LLC Purchases 726 Shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Certuity LLC raised its stake in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 10.3% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 7,753 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 726 shares during the period. Certuity LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $2,040,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Marks Group Wealth Management Inc grew its holdings in Salesforce by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Marks Group Wealth Management Inc now owns 35,220 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $9,268,000 after purchasing an additional 257 shares during the period. Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. grew its holdings in Salesforce by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. now owns 7,881 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,206,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares during the period. Pure Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Salesforce during the fourth quarter valued at about $214,000. Lone Pine Capital LLC grew its holdings in Salesforce by 47.5% during the third quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC now owns 2,499,630 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $506,875,000 after purchasing an additional 804,634 shares during the period. Finally, Vicus Capital boosted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 153.2% in the third quarter. Vicus Capital now owns 2,575 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $522,000 after acquiring an additional 1,558 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Salesforce

In related news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.95, for a total value of $4,244,250.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 13,626,166 shares in the company, valued at $3,855,523,669.70. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.95, for a total value of $4,244,250.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 13,626,166 shares in the company, valued at $3,855,523,669.70. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Srinivas Tallapragada sold 2,890 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.32, for a total value of $893,934.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 60,416 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,687,877.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 610,793 shares of company stock worth $179,197,018 over the last quarter. Insiders own 3.70% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on Salesforce from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. StockNews.com lowered Salesforce from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Salesforce from $310.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Salesforce from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $310.61.

Salesforce Stock Down 2.1 %

Shares of CRM traded down $5.79 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $269.95. 2,743,642 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,600,876. Salesforce, Inc. has a 1 year low of $190.76 and a 1 year high of $318.71. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $295.69 and its 200-day moving average is $265.20. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $261.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 65.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 1.28.

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

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 14th were given a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 13th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.59%. Salesforce’s dividend 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.