Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC Has $3.83 Million Position in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 3.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 13,990 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 492 shares during the period. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $3,829,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Salesforce by 103.5% in the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 54,761 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $16,494,000 after acquiring an additional 27,850 shares during the last quarter. Vaughan David Investments LLC IL acquired a new position in Salesforce during the 1st quarter worth about $324,000. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund grew its holdings in Salesforce by 31.0% during the 1st quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 81,100 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $24,426,000 after acquiring an additional 19,200 shares during the last quarter. InterOcean Capital Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Salesforce by 18.0% in the first quarter. InterOcean Capital Group LLC now owns 4,062 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,223,000 after acquiring an additional 621 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Evermay Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Salesforce by 5.1% during the first quarter. Evermay Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,879 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $566,000 after purchasing an additional 91 shares in the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Phillip Securities restated an “accumulate” rating and issued a $305.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Salesforce from $325.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Salesforce to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Erste Group Bank restated a “hold” rating on shares of Salesforce in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. Finally, FBN Securities raised shares of Salesforce to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-seven have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $325.36.

Salesforce Stock Performance

Shares of CRM stock opened at $322.25 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $288.14 and a 200-day moving average of $266.96. The company has a market cap of $308.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 56.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. Salesforce, Inc. has a 52 week low of $212.00 and a 52 week high of $348.86.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The CRM provider reported $2.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $9.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.22 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 15.44% and a return on equity of 12.01%. The firm’s revenue was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.63 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast 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 issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 18th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is 27.83%.

Insider Transactions at Salesforce

In related news, CFO Amy E. Weaver sold 897 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $285.29, for a total transaction of $255,905.13. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 52,930 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,100,399.70. This trade represents a 1.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Parker Harris sold 3,970 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $296.74, for a total value of $1,178,057.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 119,402 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $35,431,349.48. This trade represents a 3.22 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 140,173 shares of company stock worth $40,146,206 in the last quarter. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.