Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) Shares Bought by Ascent Wealth Partners LLC

Ascent Wealth Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 1.2% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,722 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 94 shares during the quarter. Ascent Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $1,985,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Confluence Wealth Services Inc. boosted its position in shares of Salesforce by 19.4% in the 2nd quarter. Confluence Wealth Services Inc. now owns 2,512 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $646,000 after buying an additional 408 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in shares of Salesforce by 12.8% in the 2nd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 830,014 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $213,397,000 after buying an additional 94,487 shares in the last quarter. MUFG Securities EMEA plc lifted its holdings in Salesforce by 32,504.8% in the 2nd quarter. MUFG Securities EMEA plc now owns 101,075 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $25,986,000 after purchasing an additional 100,765 shares in the last quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise lifted its holdings in Salesforce by 11.2% in the 2nd quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise now owns 58,373 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $15,008,000 after purchasing an additional 5,868 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lifted its holdings in Salesforce by 3.3% in the 2nd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 320,341 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $82,360,000 after purchasing an additional 10,235 shares in the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Salesforce Stock Performance

CRM traded down $4.11 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $252.90. 10,507,704 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,635,113. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $254.44 and a 200-day simple moving average of $271.20. Salesforce, Inc. has a 12 month low of $193.68 and a 12 month high of $318.71. The stock has a market cap of $245.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 1.11.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The CRM provider reported $2.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $9.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.22 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 11.57% and a net margin of 15.30%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.63 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 25th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 9th were paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, July 9th. Salesforce’s payout ratio is 28.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Salesforce

In other news, insider Parker Harris sold 4,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $262.90, for a total transaction of $1,104,180.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 117,581 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,912,044.90. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, insider Miguel Milano sold 2,934 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $262.95, for a total transaction of $771,495.30. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 3,716 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $977,122.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Parker Harris sold 4,200 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $262.90, for a total value of $1,104,180.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 117,581 shares in the company, valued at $30,912,044.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 112,964 shares of company stock worth $27,956,647. 3.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on CRM shares. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their target price on shares of Salesforce from $234.00 to $236.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Salesforce from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 26th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Salesforce from $250.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Salesforce from $300.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $280.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $302.00.

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.