AGF Management Ltd. Has $58.97 Million Stock Position in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

AGF Management Ltd. raised its holdings in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 3,824.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 219,745 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 214,146 shares during the quarter. AGF Management Ltd.’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $58,971,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Coign Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Salesforce by 1.7% in the first quarter. Coign Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,183 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $586,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Staley Capital Advisers Inc. increased its stake in shares of Salesforce by 1.1% in the first quarter. Staley Capital Advisers Inc. now owns 3,343 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $897,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Liberty One Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Salesforce by 1.2% in the first quarter. Liberty One Investment Management LLC now owns 3,165 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $849,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. First Command Advisory Services Inc. increased its stake in shares of Salesforce by 7.3% in the first quarter. First Command Advisory Services Inc. now owns 572 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $154,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mendel Money Management increased its stake in shares of Salesforce by 3.6% in the first quarter. Mendel Money Management now owns 1,112 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $298,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on CRM shares. Guggenheim upgraded shares of Salesforce from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Salesforce from $425.00 to $347.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. DA Davidson reiterated an “underperform” rating and set a $200.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. Cantor Fitzgerald lowered shares of Salesforce from an “overweight” rating to a “cautious” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their target price on shares of Salesforce from $243.00 to $255.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, twenty-seven have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Salesforce has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $348.16.

Insider Activity at Salesforce

In other news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 2,250 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $248.40, for a total transaction of $558,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 11,911,571 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,958,834,236.40. This represents a 0.02% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 46,479 shares of company stock worth $12,457,591. 3.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Salesforce Price Performance

CRM opened at $240.09 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $229.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.57, a P/E/G ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.37. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $263.47 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $278.75. Salesforce Inc. has a 52-week low of $230.00 and a 52-week high of $369.00.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 28th. The CRM provider reported $2.58 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.55 by $0.03. Salesforce had a net margin of 16.08% and a return on equity of 12.94%. The firm had revenue of $9.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.74 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.44 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 10th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 18th were given a dividend of $0.416 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 18th. This represents a $1.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is presently 25.98%.

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.