Apollon Wealth Management LLC Buys 1,434 Shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Apollon Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 5.9% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 25,801 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,434 shares during the quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $7,062,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of CRM. Sheets Smith Wealth Management boosted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 35.1% during the 1st quarter. Sheets Smith Wealth Management now owns 3,351 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,009,000 after purchasing an additional 871 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc boosted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 2.3% during the 1st quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 807,993 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $243,351,000 after purchasing an additional 18,468 shares in the last quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 136.3% during the 1st quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC now owns 1,021 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $308,000 after purchasing an additional 589 shares in the last quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System boosted its stake in Salesforce by 5.4% during the first quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 1,050,700 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $316,450,000 after acquiring an additional 54,184 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Angeles Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Salesforce by 14.3% in the first quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,238 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,276,000 after purchasing an additional 530 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 413 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $285.29, for a total value of $117,824.77. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 7,006 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,998,741.74. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 413 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $285.29, for a total value of $117,824.77. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 7,006 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,998,741.74. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Parker Harris sold 3,970 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $296.74, for a total transaction of $1,178,057.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 119,402 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $35,431,349.48. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 144,373 shares of company stock valued at $41,250,680 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CRM has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 26th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $234.00 to $236.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Loop Capital reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $270.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $345.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Salesforce from $320.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Salesforce presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $314.80.

Salesforce Stock Performance

CRM opened at $341.74 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $326.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 59.43, a PEG ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a fifty day moving average of $277.76 and a 200 day moving average of $264.35. Salesforce, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $211.76 and a fifty-two week high of $344.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.04.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 28th. The CRM provider reported $2.56 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.20. Salesforce had a net margin of 15.44% and a return on equity of 12.01%. The business had revenue of $9.33 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.22 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.63 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 8th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 18th were paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 18th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.47%. Salesforce’s payout ratio is currently 27.83%.

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.