Highland Capital Management LLC Takes $4.32 Million Position in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Highland Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 12,925 shares of the CRM provider’s stock, valued at approximately $4,321,000.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 15.0% in the 4th quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 36,473 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $12,194,000 after purchasing an additional 4,752 shares during the last quarter. Nabity Jensen Investment Management Inc bought a new position in shares of Salesforce in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,215,000. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Salesforce by 13.6% during the 3rd quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 58,036 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $15,885,000 after acquiring an additional 6,938 shares during the last quarter. Aljian Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Salesforce by 16.1% during the 3rd quarter. Aljian Capital Management LLC now owns 13,258 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $3,629,000 after acquiring an additional 1,834 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AIA Group Ltd boosted its stake in Salesforce by 8.9% during the 3rd quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 24,028 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $6,577,000 after acquiring an additional 1,962 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Parker Harris sold 3,970 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was 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 represents a 3.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $290.23, for a total value of $145,115.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 6,506 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,888,236.38. This represents a 7.14 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 1,109,169 shares of company stock valued at $383,432,020. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Salesforce Stock Down 1.6 %

CRM stock opened at $354.14 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $338.91 billion, a PE ratio of 58.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 1.30. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $337.96 and a 200 day simple moving average of $296.02. Salesforce, Inc. has a 52 week low of $212.00 and a 52 week high of $369.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, December 3rd. The CRM provider reported $2.41 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.44 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $9.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.35 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 15.96% and a return on equity of 12.34%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.62 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 18th were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, December 18th. Salesforce’s payout ratio is 26.32%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on CRM. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $375.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Erste Group Bank raised shares of Salesforce from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $390.00 to $440.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Cfra set a $343.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of Salesforce from $400.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, thirty-one have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Salesforce has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $377.63.

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.