Concord Investment Counsel Inc. Acquires New Shares in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Concord Investment Counsel Inc. bought a new position in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 12,928 shares of the CRM provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,894,000. Salesforce comprises about 1.4% of Concord Investment Counsel Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 23rd largest holding.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in CRM. Graypoint LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 10,504 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,764,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. Chase Investment Counsel Corp boosted its stake in Salesforce by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Chase Investment Counsel Corp now owns 10,377 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,730,000 after buying an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Salesforce by 11.4% in the fourth quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 353 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $93,000 after acquiring an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. Opes Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Salesforce by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Opes Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,295 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $341,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Prentice Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Prentice Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,294 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $604,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $278.06, for a total value of $4,170,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 12,913,721 shares in the company, valued at $3,590,789,261.26. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $278.06, for a total value of $4,170,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 12,913,721 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,590,789,261.26. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 2,425 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $273.15, for a total value of $662,388.75. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 5,856 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,599,566.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 439,152 shares of company stock valued at $118,115,911 over the last ninety days. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently issued reports on CRM. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $300.00 to $250.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. KeyCorp initiated coverage on Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. They issued a “sector weight” rating for the company. Macquarie reduced their price objective on Salesforce from $330.00 to $275.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Canaccord Genuity Group dropped their target price on Salesforce from $350.00 to $300.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Finally, Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and set a $300.00 price target (down from $360.00) on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, May 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, twenty-five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $292.79.

Salesforce Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of CRM traded up $3.19 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $254.31. The company had a trading volume of 2,015,065 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,905,667. Salesforce, Inc. has a 52-week low of $193.68 and a 52-week high of $318.71. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $256.82 and a 200-day moving average price of $275.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $246.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.68, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 1.11.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 29th. The CRM provider reported $2.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.38 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $9.13 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.15 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 15.30% and a return on equity of 11.57%. The business’s revenue was up 10.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.15 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 25th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 9th will be paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, July 9th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is currently 28.78%.

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.