Meritage Portfolio Management Purchases Shares of 22,667 Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Meritage Portfolio Management acquired a new stake in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 22,667 shares of the CRM provider’s stock, valued at approximately $5,965,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in CRM. Capital Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Salesforce by 15.1% in the 3rd quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 6,584 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,335,000 after buying an additional 864 shares during the period. Impact Partnership Wealth LLC raised its position in Salesforce by 226.5% in the 3rd quarter. Impact Partnership Wealth LLC now owns 320 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $65,000 after purchasing an additional 222 shares during the period. DAVENPORT & Co LLC raised its position in Salesforce by 25.7% in the 3rd quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 4,411 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $894,000 after purchasing an additional 901 shares during the period. Founders Financial Securities LLC raised its position in Salesforce by 7.3% in the 3rd quarter. Founders Financial Securities LLC now owns 3,314 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $672,000 after purchasing an additional 226 shares during the period. Finally, Nikulski Financial Inc. grew its holdings in Salesforce by 8.4% in the 3rd quarter. Nikulski Financial Inc. now owns 8,428 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,709,000 after acquiring an additional 652 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.94, for a total value of $4,064,100.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 12,827,327 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,475,435,977.38. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, insider Srinivas Tallapragada sold 10,000 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $283.12, for a total value of $2,831,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 60,416 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,104,977.92. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.94, for a total transaction of $4,064,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 12,827,327 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,475,435,977.38. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 620,793 shares of company stock worth $182,177,918 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 3.70% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Price Performance

CRM stock traded up $0.70 during trading on Friday, hitting $273.84. 2,313,208 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,643,578. Salesforce, Inc. has a 52 week low of $190.76 and a 52 week 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. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $296.28 and a 200 day simple moving average of $263.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $265.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 65.67, a P/E/G ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 1.28.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced 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 business had revenue of $9.29 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.22 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 11.87% and a return on equity of 10.42%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.01 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect 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. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 13th. Salesforce’s payout ratio is 9.52%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on CRM. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Salesforce from $325.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Wolfe Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $365.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $290.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $345.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Salesforce currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price 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.