Apriem Advisors Invests $299,000 in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Apriem Advisors purchased a new stake in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor purchased 894 shares of the CRM provider’s stock, valued at approximately $299,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in CRM. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Salesforce by 1.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 49,007,404 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $13,432,855,000 after buying an additional 864,193 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,780,318 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $5,395,132,000 after acquiring an additional 257,501 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its position in Salesforce by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 12,276,551 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $3,360,215,000 after acquiring an additional 314,530 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in Salesforce by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 5,964,702 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,632,599,000 after acquiring an additional 57,825 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Salesforce by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,912,854 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,618,407,000 after purchasing an additional 96,381 shares in the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Salesforce news, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 436 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $332.28, for a total transaction of $144,874.08. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 7,057 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,344,899.96. The trade was a 5.82 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Marc Benioff sold 317,105 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $346.78, for a total transaction of $109,965,671.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 12,162,457 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,217,696,838.46. This represents a 2.54 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,102,572 shares of company stock valued at $381,283,706. Corporate insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on CRM. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on Salesforce from $425.00 to $375.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 21st. KeyCorp raised shares of Salesforce from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $440.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, December 13th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Salesforce from $415.00 to $425.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $450.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Salesforce from $275.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, thirty-two have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $374.47.

Salesforce Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CRM opened at $307.19 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $330.86 and its 200-day moving average is $306.97. Salesforce, Inc. has a twelve month low of $212.00 and a twelve month high of $369.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $293.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.53, a PEG ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.31.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, December 3rd. The CRM provider reported $2.41 earnings per share 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 analyst estimates of $9.35 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 12.34% and a net margin of 15.96%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.62 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 18th were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 18th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.52%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 26.32%.

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.