Westfield Capital Management Co. LP Raises Stock Position in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Westfield Capital Management Co. LP grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 6.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 608,116 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 37,940 shares during the quarter. Salesforce makes up approximately 0.9% of Westfield Capital Management Co. LP’s holdings, making the stock its 18th biggest position. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP owned about 0.06% of Salesforce worth $160,020,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Marks Group Wealth Management Inc lifted its holdings in Salesforce by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Marks Group Wealth Management Inc now owns 35,220 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $9,268,000 after purchasing an additional 257 shares in the last quarter. Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. boosted its stake in Salesforce by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. now owns 7,881 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $2,206,000 after buying an additional 105 shares during the period. Pure Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in Salesforce during the fourth quarter valued at $214,000. Lone Pine Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Salesforce by 47.5% in the third quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC now owns 2,499,630 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $506,875,000 after acquiring an additional 804,634 shares during the period. Finally, Blair William & Co. IL boosted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 821,761 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $166,637,000 after purchasing an additional 6,888 shares during the period. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have issued reports on CRM shares. Argus boosted their target price on Salesforce from $290.00 to $354.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and set a $360.00 target price (up from $275.00) on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $300.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a report on Monday, April 15th. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $342.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $350.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. 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 company. According to MarketBeat, Salesforce presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $310.94.

Insider Buying and Selling at Salesforce

In other news, insider Srinivas Tallapragada sold 2,474 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.59, for a total value of $731,289.66. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 60,416 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,858,365.44. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, insider Srinivas Tallapragada sold 2,474 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $295.59, for a total transaction of $731,289.66. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 60,416 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,858,365.44. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.46, for a total value of $4,506,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 13,371,166 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,017,500,536.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 636,344 shares of company stock valued at $184,877,874 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Stock Performance

CRM stock traded down $6.28 during trading on Friday, hitting $272.29. 8,059,239 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,342,703. The company has a market cap of $263.58 billion, a PE ratio of 64.83, a P/E/G ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 1.30. Salesforce, Inc. has a 1 year low of $193.68 and a 1 year high of $318.71. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $286.94 and its 200 day simple moving average is $274.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 1.09.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The CRM provider reported $1.78 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $9.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.22 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.01 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 13th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.59%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.52%.

Salesforce 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.