Gray Wealth Management Inc. Purchases New Position in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Gray Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 808 shares of the CRM provider’s stock, valued at approximately $213,000.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Salesforce during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,420,381,000. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 10,252,257 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC increased its stake in Salesforce by 1,254.7% during the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 3,483,670 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $916,693,000 after purchasing an additional 3,226,512 shares in the last quarter. Starboard Value LP bought a new stake in Salesforce during the 4th quarter worth approximately $401,215,000. Finally, Barclays PLC increased its stake in Salesforce by 99.7% during the 2nd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 3,196,861 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $675,370,000 after purchasing an additional 1,595,733 shares in the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Salesforce

In other Salesforce news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $276.83, for a total transaction of $4,152,450.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 12,857,327 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,559,293,833.41. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, insider Srinivas Tallapragada sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $284.11, for a total transaction of $2,841,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 60,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,323,891.36. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $276.83, for a total value of $4,152,450.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 12,857,327 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,559,293,833.41. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 628,184 shares of company stock valued at $184,794,698. 3.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. TheStreet raised shares of Salesforce from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Friday, January 19th. Argus raised their price target 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. Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of Salesforce from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 12th. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $360.00 price target (up from $275.00) on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Salesforce from $265.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 26th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Salesforce presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $307.87.

Salesforce Price Performance

NYSE CRM traded down $0.32 during trading on Friday, hitting $271.60. 719,518 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,641,438. 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 company has a market cap of $263.45 billion, a PE ratio of 64.59, a P/E/G ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 1.28. Salesforce, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $190.57 and a fifty-two week high of $318.71. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $297.70 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $260.97.

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

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 13th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio 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.