Sfmg LLC Buys 324 Shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Sfmg LLC boosted its stake in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 1.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 18,630 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 324 shares during the period. Sfmg LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $4,902,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Bear Mountain Capital Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce in the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. BKM Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Pacifica Partners Inc. increased its stake in shares of Salesforce by 333.3% in the 4th quarter. Pacifica Partners Inc. now owns 130 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. AlphaMark Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Salesforce by 892.9% in the 4th quarter. AlphaMark Advisors LLC now owns 139 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the period. Finally, Glass Jacobson Investment Advisors llc purchased a new position in Salesforce during the fourth quarter valued at $37,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CRM has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Argus upped their price target on shares of Salesforce from $290.00 to $354.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. Bank of America increased their price target on Salesforce from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Salesforce from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $345.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Monday. Finally, JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $342.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Monday. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $307.87.

Salesforce Stock Up 1.7 %

CRM traded up $4.51 on Wednesday, hitting $277.41. The company had a trading volume of 7,624,347 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,686,930. The stock has a market capitalization of $269.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 66.05, a P/E/G ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.28. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $298.35 and a 200-day moving average price of $260.79. Salesforce, Inc. has a 12-month low of $190.57 and a 12-month high of $318.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.09.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 28th. The CRM provider reported $1.78 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.72 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $9.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.22 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 11.87% and a return on equity of 10.42%. Salesforce’s revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.01 EPS. Analysts predict that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.58%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 13th. Salesforce’s payout ratio is 9.52%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $274.01, for a total value of $4,110,150.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,761,166 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,770,697,095.66. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Salesforce news, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 216 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $278.71, for a total value of $60,201.36. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 2,869 shares in the company, valued at approximately $799,618.99. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $274.01, for a total transaction of $4,110,150.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 13,761,166 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,770,697,095.66. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 897,375 shares of company stock worth $260,206,096 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 3.70% of the company’s stock.

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.