CX Institutional Buys 221 Shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

CX Institutional lifted its stake in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 3.9% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 5,858 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 221 shares during the quarter. CX Institutional’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $1,959,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Gabelli Funds LLC grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 11.9% during the second quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 2,405 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $618,000 after buying an additional 255 shares in the last quarter. Deerfield Management Company L.P. Series C acquired a new position in Salesforce during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $409,000. MBB Public Markets I LLC grew its stake in shares of Salesforce by 2,742.4% during the 2nd quarter. MBB Public Markets I LLC now owns 68,929 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $17,722,000 after acquiring an additional 66,504 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 7.2% in the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 2,783,790 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $715,709,000 after purchasing an additional 185,990 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Makena Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Salesforce by 26.8% in the second quarter. Makena Capital Management LLC now owns 56,106 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $14,425,000 after purchasing an additional 11,874 shares in the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $400.00 price target (up from $380.00) on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Salesforce from $275.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $405.00 price target 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 boosted their price target for the stock from $380.00 to $400.00 in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Cfra set a $343.00 price objective on Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, thirty-one have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Salesforce currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $377.63.

Salesforce Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CRM opened at $333.47 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $336.56 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $293.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $319.13 billion, a PE ratio of 54.85, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 1.30. 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, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $212.00 and a fifty-two week high of $369.00.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, December 3rd. The CRM provider reported $2.41 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.44 by ($0.03). Salesforce had a return on equity of 12.34% and a net margin of 15.96%. The firm had revenue of $9.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.35 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.62 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 18th were paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, December 18th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.48%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.32%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Salesforce

In other Salesforce news, insider Parker Harris sold 3,970 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $296.74, for a total value of $1,178,057.80. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 119,402 shares in the company, valued at $35,431,349.48. The trade was a 3.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $290.23, for a total transaction of $145,115.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 6,506 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,888,236.38. This trade represents a 7.14 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,173,891 shares of company stock worth $402,840,388 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce 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.