First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. Buys 1,712 Shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. increased its stake in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 62.0% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 4,473 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,712 shares during the period. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co.’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $1,495,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Nabity Jensen Investment Management Inc bought a new position in shares of Salesforce during the third quarter valued at approximately $1,215,000. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Salesforce by 13.6% during the third quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 58,036 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $15,885,000 after purchasing an additional 6,938 shares in the last quarter. Aljian Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Salesforce by 16.1% during the third quarter. Aljian Capital Management LLC now owns 13,258 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $3,629,000 after purchasing an additional 1,834 shares in the last quarter. AIA Group Ltd increased its stake in shares of Salesforce by 8.9% during the third quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 24,028 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $6,577,000 after purchasing an additional 1,962 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Salesforce by 1.3% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,780,318 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $5,395,132,000 after purchasing an additional 257,501 shares in the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Salesforce Stock Performance

Shares of Salesforce stock opened at $333.47 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $319.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.85, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. Salesforce, Inc. has a 12 month low of $212.00 and a 12 month high of $369.00. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $336.73 and its 200-day moving average price is $294.31.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, December 3rd. The CRM provider reported $2.41 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.44 by ($0.03). Salesforce had a net margin of 15.96% and a return on equity of 12.34%. The firm had revenue of $9.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.35 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.62 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 18th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 18th. Salesforce’s payout ratio is currently 26.32%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on CRM shares. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Salesforce from $330.00 to $405.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Salesforce from $275.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of Salesforce from $425.00 to $440.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Northland Capmk upgraded shares of Salesforce from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Salesforce from $390.00 to $440.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, thirty-one have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $377.63.

Insider Activity at Salesforce

In related news, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 436 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $332.28, for a total transaction of $144,874.08. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 7,057 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,344,899.96. This trade represents a 5.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Parker Harris sold 4,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $298.04, for a total value of $1,251,768.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 119,402 shares in the company, valued at approximately $35,586,572.08. The trade was a 3.40 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,173,891 shares of company stock valued at $402,840,388 over the last quarter. 3.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.