Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC Raises Position in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRMFree Report) by 3.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 75,523 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,530 shares during the quarter. Salesforce makes up about 1.7% of Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest position. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $25,250,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in CRM. LPL Financial LLC raised its position in Salesforce by 4.8% in the second quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 909,821 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $233,915,000 after purchasing an additional 41,630 shares during the period. Fortune Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in Salesforce by 7.0% in the second quarter. Fortune Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,349 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $347,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares during the period. Campbell Wealth Management raised its position in Salesforce by 29.8% in the second quarter. Campbell Wealth Management now owns 871 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $224,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. Forsta AP Fonden raised its position in Salesforce by 3.9% in the second quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 250,647 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $64,441,000 after purchasing an additional 9,500 shares during the period. Finally, Achmea Investment Management B.V. raised its position in Salesforce by 2.2% in the second quarter. Achmea Investment Management B.V. now owns 87,120 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $22,399,000 after purchasing an additional 1,863 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Salesforce news, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 413 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $285.29, for a total value of $117,824.77. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 7,006 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,998,741.74. This trade represents a 5.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Marc Benioff sold 317,105 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $346.78, for a total transaction of $109,965,671.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 12,162,457 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,217,696,838.46. This represents a 2.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,181,817 shares of company stock worth $404,760,429 in the last quarter. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Salesforce Stock Down 2.8 %

Salesforce stock traded down $9.08 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $317.82. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,087,125 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,341,328. The company has a market capitalization of $304.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 1.30. Salesforce, Inc. has a 12 month low of $212.00 and a 12 month high of $369.00. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $335.36 and its 200 day simple moving average is $288.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 1.11.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRMGet Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, December 3rd. The CRM provider reported $2.41 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.44 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $9.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.35 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 15.96% and a return on equity of 12.34%. The business’s revenue was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.62 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 18th were paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, December 18th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.32%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CRM has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their target price on Salesforce from $315.00 to $415.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Salesforce from $390.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Macquarie reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $370.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Scotiabank lifted their price target on Salesforce from $425.00 to $440.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Salesforce from $275.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, thirty have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Salesforce currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $376.05.

Get Our Latest Stock Analysis on Salesforce

About Salesforce

(Free Report)

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.

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Institutional Ownership by Quarter for Salesforce (NYSE:CRM)

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