Kaizen Financial Strategies Reduces Position in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Kaizen Financial Strategies cut its position in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 6.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 6,726 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 441 shares during the quarter. Salesforce makes up 1.3% of Kaizen Financial Strategies’ investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest position. Kaizen Financial Strategies’ holdings in Salesforce were worth $1,770,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. WASHINGTON TRUST Co raised its holdings in Salesforce by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. WASHINGTON TRUST Co now owns 73,177 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $19,256,000 after acquiring an additional 1,410 shares during the last quarter. Westbourne Investment Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Westbourne Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 21,757 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $5,725,000 after purchasing an additional 885 shares during the period. West Oak Capital LLC increased its stake in Salesforce by 23.9% in the fourth quarter. West Oak Capital LLC now owns 725 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $197,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares during the last quarter. Cornell Pochily Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Salesforce by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Cornell Pochily Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 5,622 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,479,000 after buying an additional 70 shares during the period. Finally, Procyon Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Salesforce by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC now owns 30,064 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $7,911,000 after buying an additional 583 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.54, for a total value of $4,733,100.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,311,166 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,200,205,319.64. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.54, for a total value of $4,733,100.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,311,166 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,200,205,319.64. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Srinivas Tallapragada sold 10,000 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $253.82, for a total value of $2,538,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 59,861 shares in the company, valued at $15,193,919.02. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,159,307 shares of company stock valued at $324,535,513 over the last three months. 3.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on CRM. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Salesforce from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Salesforce from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Salesforce from $310.00 to $355.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Mizuho restated a “buy” rating and set a $345.00 price target (up from $325.00) on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised Salesforce from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $290.00 to $350.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 21st. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $304.32.

Salesforce Price Performance

CRM stock traded down $4.45 on Wednesday, hitting $301.38. 3,843,539 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,779,266. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The stock has a market cap of $292.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 71.66, a P/E/G ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 1.28. Salesforce, Inc. has a 1-year low of $187.31 and a 1-year high of $318.71. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $293.59 and a 200-day moving average of $251.75.

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

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 14th will be paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 13th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.52%.

Salesforce Company 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.