3,318 Shares in Salesforce Inc. $CRM Acquired by Westerkirk Capital Inc.

Westerkirk Capital Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor bought 3,318 shares of the CRM provider’s stock, valued at approximately $905,000.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Quantbot Technologies LP raised its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 115.0% in the second quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 55,382 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $15,102,000 after acquiring an additional 29,617 shares in the last quarter. Van Hulzen Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Salesforce during the 2nd quarter valued at about $202,000. Distillate Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the 2nd quarter valued at about $28,289,000. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp raised its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 28.0% in the 2nd quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp now owns 649,207 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $177,032,000 after purchasing an additional 141,906 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TradeLink Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $818,000. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on CRM shares. Macquarie reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. DA Davidson reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Barclays decreased their price objective on Salesforce from $347.00 to $316.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 18th. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their target price on Salesforce from $275.00 to $250.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 4th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their target price on shares of Salesforce from $255.00 to $221.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, September 4th. Twenty-six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $325.42.

Salesforce Trading Up 0.9%

Shares of Salesforce stock opened at $234.84 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $242.92 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $253.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $223.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.13, a PEG ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 1.25. Salesforce Inc. has a 12-month low of $221.96 and a 12-month high of $369.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, September 3rd. The CRM provider reported $2.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.78 by $0.13. Salesforce had a net margin of 16.87% and a return on equity of 13.27%. The firm had revenue of $10.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.14 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.56 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 17th were paid a dividend of $0.416 per share. This represents a $1.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 17th. Salesforce’s payout ratio is presently 24.13%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 122 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $259.00, for a total transaction of $31,598.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 11,911,571 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,085,096,889. The trade was a 0.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In the last quarter, insiders sold 51,872 shares of company stock worth $12,801,203. 3.00% 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.