Valmark Advisers Inc. Buys 902 Shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Valmark Advisers Inc. increased its stake in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 29.7% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 3,936 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 902 shares during the quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc.’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $1,316,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Arlington Trust Co LLC increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 85.1% in the fourth quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC now owns 87 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Compass Financial Services Inc bought a new position in Salesforce during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Asset Planning Inc bought a new position in Salesforce during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Collier Financial bought a new position in Salesforce during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, Infrastructure Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in Salesforce during the third quarter valued at approximately $27,000. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CRM has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $450.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Salesforce from $275.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Northland Securities reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $440.00 price target (up from $400.00) on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. KeyCorp raised Salesforce from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $440.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Erste Group Bank raised Salesforce from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. One research 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $377.63.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Amy E. Weaver sold 6,221 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $329.88, for a total value of $2,052,183.48. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 45,861 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,128,626.68. This trade represents a 11.94 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director G Mason Morfit sold 722,300 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $346.11, for a total value of $249,995,253.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 3,192,009 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,104,786,234.99. The trade was a 18.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,111,420 shares of company stock worth $384,366,700. 3.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Salesforce Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CRM opened at $325.49 on Monday. Salesforce, Inc. has a 1-year low of $212.00 and a 1-year high of $369.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 1.11. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $336.56 and a 200-day moving average price of $303.11. The company has a market capitalization of $311.49 billion, a PE ratio of 53.53, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 1.31.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, December 3rd. The CRM provider reported $2.41 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.44 by ($0.03). Salesforce had a net margin of 15.96% and a return on equity of 12.34%. The company had revenue of $9.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.35 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.62 earnings per share. Salesforce’s revenue was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 18th were issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 18th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. Salesforce’s payout ratio is 26.32%.

Salesforce Company 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.