Linscomb Wealth Inc. Boosts Stock Holdings in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Linscomb Wealth Inc. raised its stake in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 2.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 15,872 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 329 shares during the quarter. Linscomb Wealth Inc.’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $5,306,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Valmark Advisers Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 14.2% in the 3rd quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 3,034 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $830,000 after purchasing an additional 377 shares in the last quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. lifted its position in Salesforce by 1.1% during the third quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. now owns 31,664 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $8,332,000 after buying an additional 332 shares in the last quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Salesforce by 27.4% during the third quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 512 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $140,000 after buying an additional 110 shares in the last quarter. Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV grew its stake in Salesforce by 44.8% during the third quarter. Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 39,743 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $10,878,000 after buying an additional 12,294 shares during the period. Finally, Oak Harvest Investment Services increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 57.2% in the third quarter. Oak Harvest Investment Services now owns 9,491 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $2,598,000 after acquiring an additional 3,453 shares in the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on CRM shares. Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of Salesforce from $440.00 to $400.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Loop Capital decreased their target price on Salesforce from $330.00 to $300.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $450.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Macquarie reduced their price target on Salesforce from $370.00 to $320.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $330.00 to $405.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, thirty-two have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $365.32.

Salesforce Stock Performance

Shares of CRM opened at $294.80 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $330.03 and a 200-day moving average of $306.89. The company has a market cap of $282.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 1.11. Salesforce, Inc. has a 1 year low of $212.00 and a 1 year high of $369.00.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, December 3rd. The CRM provider reported $2.41 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.44 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $9.44 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.35 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 12.34% and a net margin of 15.96%. Salesforce’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.62 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current 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 0.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 18th. Salesforce’s payout ratio is currently 26.32%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director G Mason Morfit sold 722,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 18th. The shares were 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. This represents a 18.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Miguel Milano sold 458 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.97, for a total transaction of $141,050.26. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 5,864 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,805,936.08. The trade was a 7.24 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 1,102,572 shares of company stock worth $381,283,706. 3.20% of the stock is owned by company 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.