GAMMA Investing LLC Purchases New Shares in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

GAMMA Investing LLC purchased a new stake in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 4,161 shares of the CRM provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,170,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Marks Group Wealth Management Inc grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Marks Group Wealth Management Inc now owns 35,220 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $9,268,000 after purchasing an additional 257 shares during the period. Walkner Condon Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in Salesforce by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Walkner Condon Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,633 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $534,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares during the period. Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. raised its stake in Salesforce by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. now owns 7,881 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,206,000 after acquiring an additional 105 shares during the period. Pure Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in Salesforce during the 4th quarter worth $214,000. Finally, Riversedge Advisors LLC increased its position in Salesforce by 21.7% during the 3rd quarter. Riversedge Advisors LLC now owns 2,353 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $477,000 after buying an additional 420 shares during the period. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Salesforce Price Performance

Shares of CRM stock traded up $2.82 on Tuesday, reaching $276.63. 6,283,041 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,718,907. Salesforce, Inc. has a 1 year low of $190.57 and a 1 year high of $318.71. The company has a market cap of $268.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 65.88, a P/E/G ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.09. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $297.00 and a 200 day moving average price of $262.79.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The CRM provider reported $1.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.72 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $9.29 billion for 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 period in the previous year, the business posted $1.01 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Salesforce news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $274.03, for a total value of $4,110,450.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 12,812,327 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,510,961,967.81. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Salesforce news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $274.03, for a total transaction of $4,110,450.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 12,812,327 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,510,961,967.81. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider R David Schmaier sold 3,910 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $274.77, for a total transaction of $1,074,350.70. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 19,463 shares in the company, valued at $5,347,848.51. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 611,379 shares of company stock worth $179,698,420 in the last ninety days. 3.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CRM has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Salesforce from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 12th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $350.00 price objective (up previously from $325.00) on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Friday, April 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Salesforce from $260.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Citigroup lifted their target price on Salesforce from $265.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Finally, Wedbush boosted their price objective on Salesforce from $280.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $310.61.

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.