Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) Shares Bought by Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC

Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 7.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 20,716 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,488 shares during the quarter. Salesforce accounts for approximately 1.0% of Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd largest position. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $5,451,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in CRM. Masso Torrence Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in Salesforce by 21.3% during the 4th quarter. Masso Torrence Wealth Management Inc. now owns 3,152 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $829,000 after acquiring an additional 553 shares in the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust raised its stake in Salesforce by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 2,950 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $776,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. Marks Group Wealth Management Inc raised its stake in Salesforce by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Marks Group Wealth Management Inc now owns 35,220 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $9,268,000 after acquiring an additional 257 shares in the last quarter. National Wealth Management Group LLC raised its stake in Salesforce by 6.7% during the 4th quarter. National Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 2,406 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $633,000 after acquiring an additional 152 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund raised its stake in shares of Salesforce by 4.4% in the 4th quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 45,086 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $11,864,000 after buying an additional 1,880 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Price Performance

Shares of CRM stock traded up $1.84 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $275.65. The company had a trading volume of 5,085,922 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,704,005. The firm has a market capitalization of $267.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 65.07, a PEG ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 1.28. Salesforce, Inc. has a 12 month low of $190.57 and a 12 month high of $318.71. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $297.00 and its 200 day moving average is $262.79. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The CRM provider reported $1.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.72 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $9.29 billion for 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 firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.01 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 13th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.52%.

Insider Activity

In other Salesforce news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $278.62, for a total transaction of $4,179,300.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 13,701,166 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,817,418,870.92. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $278.62, for a total transaction of $4,179,300.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,701,166 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,817,418,870.92. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Brian Millham sold 393 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total transaction of $110,040.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 596,379 shares of company stock worth $175,587,970 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 3.70% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Salesforce from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 12th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Salesforce from $310.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. StockNews.com downgraded Salesforce from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. Bank of America lifted their target price on Salesforce from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, Mizuho restated a “buy” rating and issued a $345.00 target price (up from $325.00) on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $310.61.

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.