L. Roy Papp & Associates LLP Takes Position in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

L. Roy Papp & Associates LLP purchased a new stake in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm purchased 601 shares of the CRM provider’s stock, valued at approximately $201,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in CRM. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Salesforce by 15.0% in the fourth quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 36,473 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $12,194,000 after acquiring an additional 4,752 shares during the last quarter. Nabity Jensen Investment Management Inc bought a new position in Salesforce in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,215,000. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Salesforce by 13.6% during the 3rd quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 58,036 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $15,885,000 after buying an additional 6,938 shares in the last quarter. Aljian Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Salesforce by 16.1% in the 3rd quarter. Aljian Capital Management LLC now owns 13,258 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $3,629,000 after buying an additional 1,834 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AIA Group Ltd increased its stake in shares of Salesforce by 8.9% in the 3rd quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 24,028 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $6,577,000 after buying an additional 1,962 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of CRM stock opened at $324.50 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $338.89 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $301.53. 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 1 year low of $212.00 and a 1 year high of $369.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $310.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.37, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 1.31.

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

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 18th were issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 18th. Salesforce’s payout ratio is presently 26.32%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on CRM. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Salesforce from $385.00 to $425.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Cfra set a $343.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. DA Davidson lifted their price target on shares of Salesforce from $250.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $450.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective 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. One equities research 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $377.63.

Insider Activity at Salesforce

In other news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 317,105 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $346.78, for a total value of $109,965,671.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 12,162,457 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,217,696,838.46. This trade represents a 2.54 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 436 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $332.28, for a total transaction of $144,874.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 7,057 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,344,899.96. The trade was a 5.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 1,111,420 shares of company stock valued at $384,366,700. 3.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Salesforce

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.