Verum Partners LLC Invests $232,000 in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Verum Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 695 shares of the CRM provider’s stock, valued at approximately $232,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Veritas Asset Management LLP acquired a new stake in Salesforce in the third quarter valued at $733,805,000. KBC Group NV raised its position 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 acquiring an additional 1,032,068 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake 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 worth $274,490,000 after purchasing an additional 998,628 shares during the last quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC increased 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% during 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently commented on CRM shares. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $415.00 target price (up from $385.00) on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Salesforce from $340.00 to $430.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $450.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. TD Cowen raised Salesforce from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $380.00 to $400.00 in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Macquarie reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $370.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, thirty-one have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Salesforce currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $377.63.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 317,105 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $346.78, for a total value of $109,965,671.90. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 12,162,457 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,217,696,838.46. This trade represents a 2.54 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director G Mason Morfit sold 722,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $346.11, for a total transaction of $249,995,253.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 3,192,009 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,104,786,234.99. This represents a 18.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,172,167 shares of company stock valued at $402,223,235 in the last quarter. Insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Stock Performance

Shares of CRM opened at $326.85 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $312.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.76, a PEG ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The business’s 50 day moving average is $336.97 and its two-hundred day moving average is $292.47. Salesforce, Inc. has a 52-week low of $212.00 and a 52-week high of $369.00.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, December 3rd. The CRM provider reported $2.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.44 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $9.44 billion during 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.62 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

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

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.