Ieq Capital LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Ieq Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 14.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 366,862 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 46,003 shares during the quarter. Salesforce comprises 0.8% of Ieq Capital LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 22nd largest holding. Ieq Capital LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $98,451,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Salesforce by 1.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 87,913,628 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $23,592,501,000 after acquiring an additional 1,383,942 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Salesforce by 5.1% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 9,014,148 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,419,037,000 after buying an additional 437,435 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in shares of Salesforce by 7.5% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 8,658,132 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,894,673,000 after buying an additional 602,445 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Salesforce by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 8,598,989 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $2,874,900,000 after purchasing an additional 114,278 shares during the period. Finally, Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Salesforce during the 1st quarter worth about $2,039,196,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CRM has been the topic of several recent research reports. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $400.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $404.00 target price (up from $393.00) on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on Salesforce from $243.00 to $255.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. Canaccord Genuity Group reduced their price objective on Salesforce from $400.00 to $350.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. Finally, Stephens reduced their price objective on Salesforce from $311.00 to $309.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have assigned a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Salesforce presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $340.54.

Salesforce Stock Performance

Shares of CRM stock opened at $244.26 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $233.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.37. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $257.69 and a 200-day simple moving average of $270.78. Salesforce Inc. has a 12-month low of $226.48 and a 12-month high of $369.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $2.55 by $0.03. Salesforce had a return on equity of 12.94% and a net margin of 16.08%.The firm had revenue of $9.83 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.74 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.44 EPS. Salesforce’s quarterly revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 10th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 18th were paid a $0.416 dividend. This represents a $1.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 18th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.98%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 2,250 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $257.02, for a total value of $578,295.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 11,911,571 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,061,511,978.42. This trade represents a 0.02% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 57,077 shares of company stock valued at $14,642,478. Company insiders own 3.00% 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.