Kennedy Investment Group Has $315,000 Position in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Kennedy Investment Group lowered its holdings in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 8.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 941 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 90 shares during the quarter. Kennedy Investment Group’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $315,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of CRM. Infrastructure Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Salesforce during the third quarter worth about $27,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL bought a new position in shares of Salesforce during the second quarter worth about $33,000. Godsey & Gibb Inc. grew its stake in Salesforce by 300.0% in the third quarter. Godsey & Gibb Inc. now owns 120 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC grew its stake in Salesforce by 135.6% in the third quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 139 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FSA Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Salesforce in the third quarter valued at approximately $53,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CRM has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $425.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Guggenheim downgraded Salesforce from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $247.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Northland Securities restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $440.00 price target (up from $400.00) on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on Salesforce from $360.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, KeyCorp upgraded Salesforce from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $440.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, December 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, thirty-one have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Salesforce has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $377.63.

Salesforce Stock Performance

Salesforce stock opened at $360.00 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $337.23 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $295.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 1.11. The stock has a market cap of $344.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 59.21, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 1.30. Salesforce, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $212.00 and a fifty-two week high of $369.00.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, December 3rd. The CRM provider reported $2.41 earnings per share 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 the consensus estimate of $9.35 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.62 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 18th were given a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, December 18th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.44%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.32%.

Insider Activity at Salesforce

In related news, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $290.23, for a total value of $145,115.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 6,506 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,888,236.38. This trade represents a 7.14 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Parker Harris sold 3,970 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $296.74, for a total transaction of $1,178,057.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 119,402 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $35,431,349.48. The trade was a 3.22 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 1,109,169 shares of company stock valued at $383,432,020. 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.