Weatherly Asset Management L. P. Grows Stock Holdings in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Weatherly Asset Management L. P. boosted its holdings in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 4.5% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 813 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 35 shares during the period. Weatherly Asset Management L. P.’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $272,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Veritas Asset Management LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the third quarter valued at $733,805,000. Jennison Associates LLC raised its stake in shares of Salesforce by 52.7% in the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 4,433,785 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,482,347,000 after acquiring an additional 1,530,572 shares during the period. Swedbank AB raised its stake in shares of Salesforce by 46.7% in the fourth quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 3,829,773 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,280,408,000 after acquiring an additional 1,219,254 shares during the period. KBC Group NV raised its stake in shares of Salesforce by 171.2% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,634,834 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $447,470,000 after acquiring an additional 1,032,068 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Salesforce by 23,664.2% in 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 acquiring an additional 998,628 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of CRM stock opened at $326.95 on Tuesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $338.97 and its 200-day moving average price is $301.03. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The stock has a market cap of $312.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.77, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 1.31. Salesforce, Inc. has a twelve month low of $212.00 and a twelve month high of $369.00.

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 firm had revenue of $9.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.35 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 15.96% and a return on equity of 12.34%. The company’s revenue was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.62 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 18th were issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 18th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 26.32%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. TD Cowen raised shares of Salesforce from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $380.00 to $400.00 in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Cfra set a $343.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Salesforce from $360.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Erste Group Bank raised shares of Salesforce from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Loop Capital raised their price target on shares of Salesforce from $340.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, thirty-one have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $377.63.

Insider Activity at Salesforce

In other Salesforce news, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 436 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $332.28, for a total transaction of $144,874.08. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 7,057 shares in the company, valued at $2,344,899.96. This represents a 5.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Brian Millham sold 14,808 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $338.95, for a total transaction of $5,019,171.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 1,111,420 shares of company stock worth $384,366,700. Company insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Company 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.