BluePath Capital Management LLC Purchases 474 Shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

BluePath Capital Management LLC grew its position in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 13.0% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 4,120 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 474 shares during the quarter. Salesforce makes up 0.7% of BluePath Capital Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 29th biggest position. BluePath Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $1,315,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Veritas Asset Management LLP bought a new stake in Salesforce during the 3rd quarter valued at $733,805,000. KBC Group NV lifted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 171.2% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,634,834 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $447,470,000 after purchasing an additional 1,032,068 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Salesforce by 23,664.2% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,002,848 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $274,490,000 after purchasing an additional 998,628 shares in the last quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Salesforce by 51.0% in the second quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC now owns 2,946,838 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $757,632,000 after purchasing an additional 994,670 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its holdings in Salesforce by 25.1% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,378,826 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,125,331,000 after purchasing an additional 877,495 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Stock Down 0.8 %

CRM opened at $321.01 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $336.76 and a two-hundred day moving average of $290.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $307.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.80, a PEG ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 1.30. Salesforce, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $212.00 and a fifty-two week high of $369.00. 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, December 3rd. The CRM provider reported $2.41 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.44 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $9.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.35 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 15.96% and a return on equity of 12.34%. Salesforce’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.62 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 18th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 18th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.50%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.32%.

Insider Activity at Salesforce

In related news, insider R David Schmaier sold 1,785 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $344.00, for a total value of $614,040.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 19,116 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,575,904. This trade represents a 8.54 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 413 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $285.29, for a total value of $117,824.77. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 7,006 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,998,741.74. This trade represents a 5.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 1,177,617 shares of company stock valued at $403,542,975. 3.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on CRM. Loop Capital lifted their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $340.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Salesforce from $300.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Salesforce from $330.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Salesforce from $360.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Scotiabank upped their target price on Salesforce from $425.00 to $440.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, thirty have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $376.05.

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.