Everence Capital Management Inc. Acquires 880 Shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Everence Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 3.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 29,160 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 880 shares during the period. Everence Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $7,673,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 45,509,345 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $9,091,832,000 after acquiring an additional 391,648 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 19,003,836 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $2,519,719,000 after buying an additional 149,012 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 11,195,108 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $2,270,144,000 after buying an additional 121,436 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the 4th quarter worth about $1,420,381,000. Finally, Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 125,717.4% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 10,260,412 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,360,428,000 after buying an additional 10,252,257 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Salesforce

In related news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $295.74, for a total transaction of $4,436,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 12,928,721 shares in the company, valued at $3,823,539,948.54. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Salesforce news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $295.74, for a total transaction of $4,436,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 12,928,721 shares in the company, valued at $3,823,539,948.54. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 216 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $278.71, for a total transaction of $60,201.36. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 2,869 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $799,618.99. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 897,375 shares of company stock worth $260,206,096. 3.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have weighed in on CRM. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $345.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Monday. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $265.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 26th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $290.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Wolfe Research reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $365.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Argus lifted their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $290.00 to $354.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $307.87.

Salesforce Stock Up 1.7 %

Shares of NYSE CRM traded up $4.51 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $277.41. The stock had a trading volume of 7,609,937 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,726,939. Salesforce, Inc. has a 12 month low of $190.57 and a 12 month high of $318.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 1.09. The company has a market capitalization of $269.09 billion, a PE ratio of 66.40, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.28. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $298.52 and a two-hundred day moving average of $260.26.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The CRM provider reported $1.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $9.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.22 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.01 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 13th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.58%. Salesforce’s payout ratio is currently 9.52%.

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.