Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) Stock Holdings Raised by Bellecapital International Ltd.

Bellecapital International Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 95.4% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 2,566 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,253 shares during the quarter. Bellecapital International Ltd.’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $689,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of CRM. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $3,599,867,000. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main lifted its stake in Salesforce by 926.4% during the fourth quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 4,256,211 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,422,979,000 after purchasing an additional 3,841,521 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Salesforce by 30,456.9% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,801,588 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,020,194,000 after purchasing an additional 3,789,147 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Salesforce during the fourth quarter valued at $1,173,564,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 42.5% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 7,791,015 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $2,604,770,000 after purchasing an additional 2,325,156 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Trading Down 0.9%

Salesforce stock opened at $265.93 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $254.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.38. Salesforce, Inc. has a 1 year low of $227.77 and a 1 year high of $369.00. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $267.35 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $301.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 1.11.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 28th. The CRM provider reported $2.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.55 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $9.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.74 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 12.34% and a net margin of 15.96%. The company’s revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.44 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 10th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.416 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 18th. This represents a $1.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.63%. Salesforce’s payout ratio is presently 25.98%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Amy E. Weaver sold 6,221 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $277.37, for a total value of $1,725,518.77. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 46,750 shares in the company, valued at $12,967,047.50. This represents a 11.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider R David Schmaier sold 6,959 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $253.31, for a total value of $1,762,784.29. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 36,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,141,957.90. This trade represents a 16.17% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 40,332 shares of company stock worth $11,024,802. Company insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on CRM. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $255.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered Salesforce from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $420.00 to $275.00 in a report on Thursday, May 29th. Citigroup dropped their price target on Salesforce from $320.00 to $295.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Salesforce from $340.00 to $385.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. Finally, Northland Securities lowered their price objective on Salesforce from $423.00 to $396.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, twenty-seven have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Salesforce presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $346.34.

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.