806 Shares in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) Purchased by Summit Asset Management LLC

Summit Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 806 shares of the CRM provider’s stock, valued at approximately $221,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital Research Global Investors grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 26.9% in the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 14,376,536 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $4,329,925,000 after purchasing an additional 3,044,611 shares during the period. GQG Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $910,220,000. Swedbank AB acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $874,748,000. Veritas Asset Management LLP acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $733,805,000. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 48.3% in the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 5,906,877 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,518,658,000 after purchasing an additional 1,922,674 shares during the period. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on CRM. Northland Securities upgraded Salesforce from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $270.00 to $400.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Citigroup boosted their target price on Salesforce from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $345.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Loop Capital restated a “hold” rating and issued a $270.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Nine 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $318.23.

Salesforce Trading Up 0.2 %

NYSE CRM opened at $341.72 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $281.40 and a 200 day simple moving average of $265.31. Salesforce, Inc. has a one year low of $212.00 and a one year high of $348.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $326.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 59.43, a P/E/G ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 1.04.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 28th. The CRM provider reported $2.56 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.20. Salesforce had a return on equity of 12.01% and a net margin of 15.44%. The firm had revenue of $9.33 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.22 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.63 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The company 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 was Wednesday, September 18th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.47%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.83%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Salesforce

In other news, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 413 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $285.29, for a total value of $117,824.77. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 7,006 shares in the company, valued at $1,998,741.74. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 413 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $285.29, for a total value of $117,824.77. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 7,006 shares in the company, valued at $1,998,741.74. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Brian Millham sold 60,522 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total value of $18,156,600.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 144,373 shares of company stock valued at $41,250,680. Company insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

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.