Everett Harris & Co. CA Invests $224,000 in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Everett Harris & Co. CA acquired a new stake in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund acquired 852 shares of the CRM provider’s stock, valued at approximately $224,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Salesforce by 463.1% in the second quarter. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,283 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $694,000 after purchasing an additional 2,700 shares during the period. Pointe Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Salesforce by 370.0% during the second quarter. Pointe Capital Management LLC now owns 1,551 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $328,000 after acquiring an additional 1,221 shares during the period. Walkner Condon Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in Salesforce by 2.9% during the third quarter. Walkner Condon Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,633 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $534,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares during the period. Procyon Advisors LLC increased its stake in Salesforce by 72.3% during the third quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC now owns 29,481 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $5,978,000 after acquiring an additional 12,371 shares during the period. Finally, BlueCrest Capital Management Ltd bought a new position in Salesforce during the second quarter valued at about $341,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Salesforce

In other news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $301.45, for a total transaction of $4,521,750.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,041,166 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,931,259,490.70. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Salesforce news, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 216 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $278.71, for a total value of $60,201.36. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 2,869 shares in the company, valued at $799,618.99. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $301.45, for a total transaction of $4,521,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 13,041,166 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,931,259,490.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 913,507 shares of company stock valued at $259,814,813 in the last three months. 3.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Salesforce Stock Performance

NYSE:CRM traded down $0.20 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $301.18. The stock had a trading volume of 4,876,082 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,764,980. Salesforce, Inc. has a twelve month low of $187.31 and a twelve month high of $318.71. The stock has a market cap of $292.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 71.75, a PEG ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 1.28. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $294.19 and its 200 day simple moving average is $252.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.09.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The CRM provider reported $1.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.72 by $0.06. Salesforce had a net margin of 11.87% and a return on equity of 10.42%. The business had revenue of $9.29 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.22 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.01 EPS. Salesforce’s revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 14th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 13th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.53%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.52%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on CRM shares. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Salesforce from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Salesforce from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on Salesforce from $290.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Needham & Company LLC boosted their target price on Salesforce from $275.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on Salesforce from $285.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $304.32.

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.