Elevated Capital Advisors LLC Increases Stock Position in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Elevated Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 29.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,472 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 563 shares during the quarter. Elevated Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $827,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Salesforce by 38.3% in the second quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 206 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $53,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. grew its position in Salesforce by 5.6% during the 2nd quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 21,263 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $5,467,000 after purchasing an additional 1,120 shares during the last quarter. Angeles Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in Salesforce by 8.2% during the 2nd quarter. Angeles Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,773 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $713,000 after purchasing an additional 211 shares in the last quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC raised its holdings in Salesforce by 3.0% in the second quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC now owns 10,743 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $2,762,000 after buying an additional 312 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Financial Perspectives Inc lifted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 197.3% in the second quarter. Financial Perspectives Inc now owns 223 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $57,000 after buying an additional 148 shares in the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CRM has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Northland Capmk upgraded shares of Salesforce from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Guggenheim cut Salesforce from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $247.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Salesforce from $300.00 to $420.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Salesforce from $340.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Northland Securities reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $440.00 price target (up previously from $400.00) on shares of Salesforce in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, thirty have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Salesforce presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $376.05.

Insider Activity at Salesforce

In other Salesforce news, Director G Mason Morfit sold 722,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $346.11, for a total transaction of $249,995,253.00. Following the sale, the director now directly 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Marc Benioff sold 317,105 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $346.78, for a total value of $109,965,671.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 12,162,457 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,217,696,838.46. The trade was a 2.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,177,617 shares of company stock valued at $403,542,975. 3.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Salesforce Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CRM opened at $319.39 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $305.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.53, a P/E/G ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 1.30. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $336.25 and a 200 day moving average price of $290.19. Salesforce, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $212.00 and a fifty-two week high of $369.00. 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 (NYSE:CRM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, December 3rd. The CRM provider reported $2.41 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.44 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $9.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.35 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 15.96% and a return on equity of 12.34%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.62 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 18th were issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 18th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.50%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.32%.

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.