West Branch Capital LLC Boosts Position in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

West Branch Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 39.0% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 5,871 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,648 shares during the quarter. West Branch Capital LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $1,576,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC raised its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 787 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $263,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares during the period. Prossimo Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Salesforce by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Prossimo Advisors LLC now owns 3,366 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,125,000 after buying an additional 32 shares during the period. Mainstream Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Salesforce by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Mainstream Capital Management LLC now owns 6,409 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,143,000 after buying an additional 33 shares during the period. Citizens National Bank Trust Department raised its holdings in Salesforce by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Citizens National Bank Trust Department now owns 1,924 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $643,000 after buying an additional 35 shares during the period. Finally, Delap Wealth Advisory LLC raised its holdings in Salesforce by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Delap Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 1,336 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $447,000 after buying an additional 35 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Stock Performance

Shares of Salesforce stock opened at $258.25 on Friday. Salesforce, Inc. has a one year low of $227.77 and a one year high of $369.00. The company has a market cap of $246.89 billion, a PE ratio of 42.48, a P/E/G ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 1.11. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $268.09 and a 200-day simple moving average of $300.13.

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

Salesforce Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 10th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 18th will be issued a $0.416 dividend. This represents a $1.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.64%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 18th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.98%.

Insider Activity at Salesforce

In related news, CFO Amy E. Weaver sold 6,221 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 46,750 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,967,047.50. This represents a 11.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Miguel Milano sold 705 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $279.44, for a total value of $197,005.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 9,323 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,605,219.12. This trade represents a 7.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 40,332 shares of company stock valued at $11,024,802 over the last three months. 3.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CRM has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $425.00 to $347.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 29th. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $400.00 to $345.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 17th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $320.00 to $300.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, May 27th. Guggenheim upgraded shares of Salesforce from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $370.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a report on Tuesday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Salesforce presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price 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.