Atria Investments Inc Raises Stock Holdings in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Atria Investments Inc boosted its stake in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 12.1% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 88,528 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after buying an additional 9,549 shares during the period. Atria Investments Inc’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $29,598,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 52.7% during the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 4,433,785 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,482,347,000 after acquiring an additional 1,530,572 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB raised its position in Salesforce by 46.7% during the fourth quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 3,829,773 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,280,408,000 after purchasing an additional 1,219,254 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV raised 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 valued at $447,470,000 after purchasing an additional 1,032,068 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in Salesforce by 56,872.2% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 933,204 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $311,998,000 after purchasing an additional 931,566 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 49,007,404 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $13,432,855,000 after purchasing an additional 864,193 shares in the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the company. DA Davidson dropped their target price on Salesforce from $300.00 to $275.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Loop Capital lowered their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $330.00 to $300.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $425.00 to $375.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Bank of America decreased their target price on shares of Salesforce from $440.00 to $400.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Salesforce from $330.00 to $405.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, thirty-two have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Salesforce has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $365.32.

Salesforce Trading Down 2.0 %

Shares of NYSE CRM opened at $287.10 on Wednesday. Salesforce, Inc. has a 1 year low of $212.00 and a 1 year high of $369.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 1.11. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $326.96 and a 200 day moving average of $308.33. The stock has a market cap of $274.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.31.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, December 3rd. The CRM provider reported $2.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.44 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $9.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.35 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 15.96% and a return on equity of 12.34%. Salesforce’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.62 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 18th were issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.56%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, December 18th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.16%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Robin L. Washington acquired 1,695 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 28th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $294.61 per share, for a total transaction of $499,363.95. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 43,445 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,799,331.45. The trade was a 4.06 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Amy E. Weaver sold 6,221 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $301.00, for a total value of $1,872,521.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 46,750 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,071,750. This represents a 11.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 1,108,793 shares of company stock valued at $383,156,227. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.