Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) Shares Purchased by Blume Capital Management Inc.

Blume Capital Management Inc. raised its position in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 16.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 700 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the quarter. Blume Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $184,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Marks Group Wealth Management Inc increased its stake in Salesforce by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Marks Group Wealth Management Inc now owns 35,220 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $9,268,000 after purchasing an additional 257 shares during the period. Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. lifted its holdings in Salesforce by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. now owns 7,881 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $2,206,000 after buying an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. Pure Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Salesforce in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $214,000. Lone Pine Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 47.5% during the third quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC now owns 2,499,630 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $506,875,000 after acquiring an additional 804,634 shares during the period. Finally, Blair William & Co. IL raised its stake in shares of Salesforce by 0.8% in the third quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 821,761 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $166,637,000 after acquiring an additional 6,888 shares in the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on CRM shares. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Salesforce from $325.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. KeyCorp started coverage on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, March 21st. They set a “sector weight” rating for the company. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $360.00 target price (up previously from $275.00) on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, Argus increased their price objective on Salesforce from $290.00 to $354.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. Nine research 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $310.61.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $292.43, for a total value of $4,386,450.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,521,166 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,953,994,573.38. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $292.43, for a total transaction of $4,386,450.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 13,521,166 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,953,994,573.38. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Brian Millham sold 24,453 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $302.08, for a total transaction of $7,386,762.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 624,193 shares of company stock worth $182,212,898 over the last 90 days. 3.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Salesforce Price Performance

CRM stock traded down $4.07 on Thursday, reaching $274.90. 1,904,162 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,460,142. The firm has a market cap of $266.10 billion, a PE ratio of 65.28, a P/E/G ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.30. Salesforce, Inc. has a twelve month low of $193.68 and a twelve month high of $318.71. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $293.29 and a 200-day moving average of $267.99. The company has a quick ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 28th. The CRM provider reported $1.78 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.72 by $0.06. Salesforce had a net margin of 11.87% and a return on equity of 10.42%. The firm had revenue of $9.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.22 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.01 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

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

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.