Catalina Capital Group LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Catalina Capital Group LLC increased its holdings in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 201.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,433 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,625 shares during the period. Catalina Capital Group LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $733,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Advisors Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 233.2% during the third quarter. Advisors Capital Management LLC now owns 3,602 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $730,000 after purchasing an additional 2,521 shares in the last quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 38.4% during the third quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 1,927 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $391,000 after purchasing an additional 535 shares in the last quarter. Integrated Advisors Network LLC lifted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 19.0% in the third quarter. Integrated Advisors Network LLC now owns 14,374 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $2,915,000 after acquiring an additional 2,292 shares in the last quarter. Resources Management Corp CT ADV lifted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 1.2% in the third quarter. Resources Management Corp CT ADV now owns 8,088 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,640,000 after acquiring an additional 97 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Spartan Planning & Wealth Management acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce in the third quarter worth about $191,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Salesforce

In other Salesforce news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.74, for a total transaction of $4,436,100.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 12,928,721 shares in the company, valued at $3,823,539,948.54. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Salesforce news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.74, for a total transaction of $4,436,100.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 12,928,721 shares in the company, valued at $3,823,539,948.54. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 2,425 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $273.15, for a total value of $662,388.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 5,856 shares in the company, valued at $1,599,566.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 454,152 shares of company stock worth $122,552,011 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently commented on CRM shares. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $350.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Friday, May 24th. Wedbush cut their price target on Salesforce from $325.00 to $315.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 29th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Salesforce from $300.00 to $250.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on Salesforce from $360.00 to $350.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group cut their price objective on Salesforce from $350.00 to $300.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, twenty-five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $292.79.

Salesforce Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of Salesforce stock traded up $0.18 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $252.61. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 8,945,022 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,954,869. The firm has a market capitalization of $244.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.30, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.29. Salesforce, Inc. has a 1-year low of $193.68 and a 1-year high of $318.71. 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 stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $257.56 and a 200-day simple moving average of $276.24.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 29th. The CRM provider reported $2.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.38 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $9.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.15 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 11.57% and a net margin of 15.30%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.15 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 25th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, July 9th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.63%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 7.19%.

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.