HCR Wealth Advisors Buys 59 Shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

HCR Wealth Advisors increased its stake in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 5.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,238 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after buying an additional 59 shares during the quarter. HCR Wealth Advisors’ holdings in Salesforce were worth $318,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Salesforce by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 84,635,254 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $25,490,446,000 after purchasing an additional 1,008,841 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its position in Salesforce by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 19,561,325 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $5,147,402,000 after buying an additional 457,463 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Salesforce by 5.2% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 14,905,462 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $3,922,223,000 after buying an additional 736,986 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in shares of Salesforce by 26.9% in the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 14,376,536 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $4,329,925,000 after buying an additional 3,044,611 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors boosted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 3.0% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 14,116,449 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $4,251,592,000 after acquiring an additional 407,834 shares during the period. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on CRM. FBN Securities upgraded Salesforce to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Salesforce from $320.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $342.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. DA Davidson raised their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-seven have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $304.41.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Salesforce news, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 413 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.78, for a total transaction of $105,637.14. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 6,431 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,644,921.18. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CFO Amy E. Weaver sold 897 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.78, for a total value of $229,434.66. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 51,109 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,072,660.02. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 413 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.78, for a total value of $105,637.14. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 6,431 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,644,921.18. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 59,892 shares of company stock valued at $15,269,897 over the last 90 days. 3.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Salesforce Trading Up 0.7 %

NYSE CRM opened at $245.76 on Tuesday. Salesforce, Inc. has a twelve month low of $193.68 and a twelve month high of $318.71. The business’s fifty day moving average is $254.31 and its 200 day moving average is $269.24. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The company has a market cap of $238.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.29.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 28th. The CRM provider reported $2.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.20. Salesforce had a return on equity of 12.01% and a net margin of 15.44%. The company had revenue of $9.33 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.22 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.63 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 8th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 18th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.65%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.78%.

Salesforce 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.