D.A. Davidson & CO. Buys 1,347 Shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

D.A. Davidson & CO. grew its stake in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 2.1% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 65,733 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,347 shares during the quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO.’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $16,900,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Salesforce by 1.2% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 84,635,254 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $25,490,446,000 after buying an additional 1,008,841 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its stake in shares of Salesforce by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 19,561,325 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $5,147,402,000 after buying an additional 457,463 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Salesforce by 5.2% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 14,905,462 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $3,922,223,000 after purchasing an additional 736,986 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its stake in shares of Salesforce by 26.9% in the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 14,376,536 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $4,329,925,000 after purchasing an additional 3,044,611 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors grew its stake in shares of Salesforce by 3.0% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 14,116,449 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $4,251,592,000 after purchasing an additional 407,834 shares during the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently issued reports on CRM shares. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Salesforce from $300.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. DA Davidson raised their target price on Salesforce from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. Raymond James raised their target price on Salesforce from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Salesforce from $250.00 to $268.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Loop Capital lifted their price objective on Salesforce from $240.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $302.00.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 413 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.78, for a total transaction of $105,637.14. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 6,431 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,644,921.18. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 413 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.78, for a total value of $105,637.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 6,431 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,644,921.18. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Srinivas Tallapragada sold 942 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.32, for a total transaction of $228,265.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 22,154 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,368,357.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 112,964 shares of company stock valued at $27,956,647 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Stock Performance

NYSE:CRM traded down $4.11 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $252.90. The company had a trading volume of 10,507,704 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,508,211. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. Salesforce, Inc. has a 52 week low of $193.68 and a 52 week high of $318.71. The firm has a market cap of $245.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.49, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.29. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $254.44 and its 200-day moving average price is $271.13.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The CRM provider reported $2.56 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.20. Salesforce had a net margin of 15.44% and a return on equity of 12.01%. The business had revenue of $9.33 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.22 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.63 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.52 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 25th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 9th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.63%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, July 9th. Salesforce’s payout ratio is 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.