Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) Shares Purchased by GoalVest Advisory LLC

GoalVest Advisory LLC boosted its position in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 7.2% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 951 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after buying an additional 64 shares during the quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $260,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Salesforce by 13.6% in the 3rd quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 58,036 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $15,885,000 after purchasing an additional 6,938 shares in the last quarter. AIA Group Ltd raised its stake in shares of Salesforce by 8.9% in the 3rd quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 24,028 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $6,577,000 after purchasing an additional 1,962 shares in the last quarter. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Salesforce by 13.6% in the 3rd quarter. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. now owns 89,098 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $24,387,000 after purchasing an additional 10,656 shares in the last quarter. XN LP raised its stake in shares of Salesforce by 24.2% in the 2nd quarter. XN LP now owns 464,489 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $119,420,000 after purchasing an additional 90,616 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Atomi Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 27.5% during the 3rd quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 11,999 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $3,284,000 after buying an additional 2,589 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Salesforce

In other news, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 500 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $290.23, for a total value of $145,115.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 6,506 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,888,236.38. This trade represents a 7.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Parker Harris sold 3,970 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $296.74, for a total transaction of $1,178,057.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 119,402 shares in the company, valued at approximately $35,431,349.48. This represents a 3.22 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 144,373 shares of company stock worth $41,250,680 over the last ninety days. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CRM has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $342.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Erste Group Bank reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $285.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Northland Securities raised shares of Salesforce from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $270.00 to $400.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group upped their target price on shares of Salesforce from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Salesforce has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $322.51.

Salesforce Price Performance

NYSE CRM opened at $325.26 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $310.95 billion, a PE ratio of 56.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $286.61 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $266.62. Salesforce, Inc. has a 12-month low of $212.00 and a 12-month high of $348.86.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The CRM provider reported $2.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $9.33 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.22 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 15.44% and a return on equity of 12.01%. The company’s revenue was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.63 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 8th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 18th were paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 18th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.83%.

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.