AlphaStar Capital Management LLC Makes New $276,000 Investment in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

AlphaStar Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 824 shares of the CRM provider’s stock, valued at approximately $276,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Veritas Asset Management LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $733,805,000. Jennison Associates LLC increased its stake in Salesforce by 52.7% in the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 4,433,785 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,482,347,000 after purchasing an additional 1,530,572 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB raised its holdings in Salesforce by 46.7% during the fourth quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 3,829,773 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,280,408,000 after purchasing an additional 1,219,254 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV boosted its position in Salesforce by 171.2% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,634,834 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $447,470,000 after purchasing an additional 1,032,068 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Salesforce by 23,664.2% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,002,848 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $274,490,000 after purchasing an additional 998,628 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $368.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of Salesforce from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $450.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Loop Capital increased their target price on Salesforce from $340.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Salesforce from $330.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, thirty-one have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $377.63.

Salesforce Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:CRM opened at $325.81 on Monday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $338.97 and its 200 day simple moving average is $300.67. The company has a market cap of $311.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.59, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 1.31. 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, Inc. has a one year low of $212.00 and a one year high of $369.00.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.35 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 12.34% and a net margin of 15.96%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.62 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 18th were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, December 18th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.49%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is presently 26.32%.

Insider Transactions at Salesforce

In other Salesforce news, COO Brian Millham sold 14,808 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $338.95, for a total transaction of $5,019,171.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 436 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $332.28, for a total value of $144,874.08. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 7,057 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,344,899.96. This trade represents a 5.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 1,111,420 shares of company stock valued at $384,366,700. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.