Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) Position Increased by Hartford Funds Management Co LLC

Hartford Funds Management Co LLC raised its holdings in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 9.7% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,450 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after buying an additional 217 shares during the period. Hartford Funds Management Co LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $671,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CRM. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its stake in Salesforce by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 8,329,687 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $2,141,562,000 after purchasing an additional 176,641 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in Salesforce by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 5,964,702 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,632,599,000 after purchasing an additional 57,825 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Salesforce by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,912,854 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,618,407,000 after purchasing an additional 96,381 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in Salesforce by 25.1% in the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,378,826 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,125,331,000 after purchasing an additional 877,495 shares during the period. Finally, ValueAct Holdings L.P. boosted its stake in Salesforce by 12.3% in the 2nd quarter. ValueAct Holdings L.P. now owns 3,914,309 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,006,369,000 after purchasing an additional 428,000 shares during the period. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Salesforce Stock Performance

NYSE CRM opened at $342.02 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 1.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $326.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 59.48, a P/E/G ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 1.29. The company’s fifty day moving average is $294.61 and its two-hundred day moving average is $268.60. Salesforce, Inc. has a 52-week low of $212.00 and a 52-week high of $348.86.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The CRM provider reported $2.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $9.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.22 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 15.44% and a return on equity of 12.01%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.63 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.55 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 8th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 18th were given a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 18th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.47%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is 27.83%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 413 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $285.29, for a total transaction of $117,824.77. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 7,006 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,998,741.74. The trade was a 5.57 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Parker Harris sold 4,200 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $262.90, for a total transaction of $1,104,180.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 117,581 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,912,044.90. This trade represents a 3.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 147,991 shares of company stock worth $43,333,238. Corporate insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CRM has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Northland Capmk raised shares of Salesforce from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Erste Group Bank raised shares of Salesforce from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $275.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their target price on shares of Salesforce from $234.00 to $236.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Cfra set a $343.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $336.37.

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.