Marest Capital LLC Acquires New Stake in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Marest Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor acquired 722 shares of the CRM provider’s stock, valued at approximately $217,000. Salesforce accounts for about 0.2% of Marest Capital LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 24th biggest holding.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CRM. Ancora Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Salesforce by 22.1% in the 3rd quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 1,287 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $261,000 after acquiring an additional 233 shares during the last quarter. Hodges Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the 3rd quarter worth $203,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 11,824 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $2,398,000 after purchasing an additional 401 shares during the period. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 82.0% during the 3rd quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,746 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $2,179,000 after purchasing an additional 4,843 shares during the period. Finally, AXQ Capital LP purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce during the 3rd quarter worth $831,000. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on CRM. Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $300.00 price target (down from $360.00) on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, May 30th. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on Salesforce from $330.00 to $300.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price objective on Salesforce from $350.00 to $300.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on Salesforce from $335.00 to $265.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Finally, KeyCorp assumed coverage on Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. They issued a “sector weight” rating for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, twenty-five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $292.79.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Salesforce news, COO Brian Millham sold 2,018 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $260.00, for a total transaction of $524,680.00. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, COO Brian Millham sold 2,018 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $260.00, for a total value of $524,680.00. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $302.03, for a total value of $4,530,450.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 12,936,166 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,907,110,216.98. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 494,952 shares of company stock worth $135,205,453. 3.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Salesforce Price Performance

Shares of Salesforce stock traded up $4.76 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $260.95. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 4,755,360 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,945,107. 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, Inc. has a 12-month low of $193.68 and a 12-month high of $318.71. The company has a market capitalization of $252.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.29. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $259.03 and a 200-day moving average price of $276.43.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 29th. The CRM provider reported $2.44 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.38 by $0.06. Salesforce had a return on equity of 11.57% and a net margin of 15.30%. The firm had revenue of $9.13 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.15 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.15 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.47 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 25th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 9th will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, July 9th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.61%. Salesforce’s payout ratio is 7.19%.

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.