Brueske Advisory Services LLC Invests $281,000 in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Brueske Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 839 shares of the CRM provider’s stock, valued at approximately $281,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Nvest Financial LLC increased its position in Salesforce by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Nvest Financial LLC now owns 2,806 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $938,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares during the period. OMC Financial Services LTD increased its position in Salesforce by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. OMC Financial Services LTD now owns 11,390 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $3,808,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares during the period. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC increased its position in Salesforce by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 787 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $263,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares during the period. Sachetta LLC increased its position in Salesforce by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Sachetta LLC now owns 11,018 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $3,684,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares during the period. Finally, Prossimo Advisors LLC increased its position in Salesforce by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Prossimo Advisors LLC now owns 3,366 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,125,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of CRM opened at $307.19 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $330.86 and a two-hundred day moving average of $306.97. 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 company has a market capitalization of $293.98 billion, a PE ratio of 50.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.31. Salesforce, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $212.00 and a fifty-two week high of $369.00.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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). The business had revenue of $9.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.35 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 15.96% and a return on equity of 12.34%. The company’s revenue was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.62 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 18th were issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, December 18th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.52%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.32%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Salesforce

In other news, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 436 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 23rd. The stock was 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 $2,344,899.96. This represents a 5.82 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director G Mason Morfit sold 722,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $346.11, for a total value of $249,995,253.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 3,192,009 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,104,786,234.99. The trade was a 18.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 1,102,572 shares of company stock worth $381,283,706. Insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Salesforce from $340.00 to $430.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $400.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Northland Securities reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $440.00 price objective (up previously from $400.00) on shares of Salesforce in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Salesforce from $330.00 to $405.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic began coverage on Salesforce in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, thirty-two have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Salesforce has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $374.47.

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.