Klingman & Associates LLC Buys 44 Shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Klingman & Associates LLC lifted its stake in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 3.2% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,429 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the quarter. Klingman & Associates LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $367,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in CRM. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Salesforce by 11.4% in the fourth quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 353 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $93,000 after buying an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. Fox Hill Wealth Management increased its holdings in Salesforce by 4.0% during the 1st quarter. Fox Hill Wealth Management now owns 985 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $297,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the period. Pinnacle Wealth Planning Services Inc. raised its position in Salesforce by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Pinnacle Wealth Planning Services Inc. now owns 4,946 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,490,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Glassman Wealth Services lifted its holdings in Salesforce by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Glassman Wealth Services now owns 1,369 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $360,000 after buying an additional 39 shares during the period. Finally, Blue Barn Wealth LLC grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 1.8% in the 1st quarter. Blue Barn Wealth LLC now owns 2,207 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $665,000 after buying an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Salesforce news, Director G Mason Morfit acquired 428,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 3rd. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $233.17 per share, for a total transaction of $99,796,760.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,914,309 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $912,699,429.53. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Salesforce news, Director G Mason Morfit purchased 428,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 3rd. The shares were bought at an average cost of $233.17 per share, with a total value of $99,796,760.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 3,914,309 shares in the company, valued at $912,699,429.53. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 413 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 6,431 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,644,921.18. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 112,964 shares of company stock valued at $27,956,647. Company insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CRM has been the subject of several research reports. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $360.00 to $350.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 30th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Salesforce from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 26th. Macquarie reduced their price target on shares of Salesforce from $330.00 to $275.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Salesforce from $300.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Salesforce from $265.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $302.00.

Salesforce Stock Performance

Shares of CRM opened at $252.90 on Friday. Salesforce, Inc. has a 52 week low of $193.68 and a 52 week high of $318.71. The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The stock 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 business has a 50-day simple moving average of $254.44 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $271.20.

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

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 25th. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 9th were paid 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 of this dividend was Tuesday, July 9th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 28.78%.

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.