Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) Shares Purchased by Austin Private Wealth LLC

Austin Private Wealth LLC boosted its stake in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 10.1% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 2,947 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 271 shares during the quarter. Austin Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $985,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CRM. GFS Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce during the 4th quarter worth $392,000. Caprock Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 12.7% during the 4th quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 37,346 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $12,501,000 after acquiring an additional 4,204 shares during the period. AA Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. AA Financial Advisors LLC now owns 6,340 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $2,120,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the period. Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce during the 4th quarter worth $250,000. Finally, Sonora Investment Management Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 16.8% during the 4th quarter. Sonora Investment Management Group LLC now owns 22,573 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $7,547,000 after acquiring an additional 3,239 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Stock Performance

Shares of CRM stock opened at $341.80 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $338.68 and its 200-day simple moving average is $296.75. The company has a market cap of $327.10 billion, a PE ratio of 56.22, a P/E/G ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 1.30. Salesforce, Inc. has a 52 week low of $212.00 and a 52 week high of $369.00. 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 (NYSE:CRM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, December 3rd. The CRM provider reported $2.41 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $9.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.35 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.62 EPS. Salesforce’s quarterly revenue was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.48 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 18th were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, December 18th. Salesforce’s payout ratio is 26.32%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on CRM. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price target on Salesforce from $315.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Guggenheim lowered shares of Salesforce from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $247.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Monday, January 6th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $400.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $415.00 price objective (up from $385.00) on shares of Salesforce in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price objective 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 investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, thirty-one have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $377.63.

Insider Buying and Selling at Salesforce

In other news, COO Brian Millham sold 708 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $332.28, for a total value of $235,254.24. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 1,239 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $411,694.92. This represents a 36.36 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Marc Benioff sold 317,105 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $346.78, for a total transaction of $109,965,671.90. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 12,162,457 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,217,696,838.46. This represents a 2.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,108,669 shares of company stock valued at $383,286,905 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce 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.