Sachetta LLC Acquires New Position in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Sachetta LLC acquired a new stake in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 209 shares of the CRM provider’s stock, valued at approximately $55,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management increased its holdings in Salesforce by 47.0% during the 3rd quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 5,270 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,069,000 after acquiring an additional 1,685 shares in the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC increased its holdings in Salesforce by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 66,846 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $13,555,000 after acquiring an additional 566 shares in the last quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC increased its holdings in Salesforce by 84.9% during the 3rd quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC now owns 4,522 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $917,000 after acquiring an additional 2,077 shares in the last quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC increased its holdings in Salesforce by 19,656.8% during the 3rd quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 14,620 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,965,000 after acquiring an additional 14,546 shares in the last quarter. Finally, US Bancorp DE increased its holdings in Salesforce by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 444,340 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $90,103,000 after acquiring an additional 8,635 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Salesforce news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $269.53, for a total value of $4,042,950.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 12,707,327 shares in the company, valued at $3,425,005,846.31. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Salesforce news, COO Brian Millham sold 14,517 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $292.50, for a total transaction of $4,246,222.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $269.53, for a total value of $4,042,950.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 12,707,327 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,425,005,846.31. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 640,499 shares of company stock worth $186,305,734 over the last ninety days. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Salesforce Stock Performance

Shares of CRM opened at $285.80 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $288.30 and a 200 day moving average price of $273.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $276.65 billion, a PE ratio of 67.56, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.30. 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, Inc. has a 52-week low of $193.68 and a 52-week high of $318.71.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. Salesforce had a net margin of 11.87% and a return on equity of 10.42%. The company had revenue of $9.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.22 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.01 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.45 earnings per share 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 dividend yield of 0.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 13th. Salesforce’s payout ratio is 9.52%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on CRM shares. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Salesforce from $285.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Wedbush lifted their price target on shares of Salesforce from $280.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. StockNews.com cut shares of Salesforce from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $350.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of Salesforce from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $310.61.

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.