Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI Raises Stock Holdings in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI grew its stake in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 81,696 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 694 shares during the period. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $22,383,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 13.6% during the 3rd quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 58,036 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $15,885,000 after buying an additional 6,938 shares during the period. Aljian Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Salesforce by 16.1% during the 3rd quarter. Aljian Capital Management LLC now owns 13,258 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $3,629,000 after acquiring an additional 1,834 shares during the last quarter. AIA Group Ltd raised its position in Salesforce by 8.9% during the third quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 24,028 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $6,577,000 after purchasing an additional 1,962 shares during the period. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 13.6% during the 3rd quarter. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. now owns 89,098 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $24,387,000 after purchasing an additional 10,656 shares during the period. Finally, XN LP grew its position in Salesforce by 24.2% in the 2nd quarter. XN LP now owns 464,489 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $119,420,000 after acquiring an additional 90,616 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CRM has been the subject of a number of research reports. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $295.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $330.00 target price (up from $300.00) on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Salesforce from $320.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Salesforce from $325.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $285.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Salesforce has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $326.19.

Salesforce Price Performance

NYSE:CRM opened at $325.70 on Thursday. Salesforce, Inc. has a 52 week low of $212.00 and a 52 week high of $348.86. The company has a market capitalization of $311.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 56.64, a PEG ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a 50-day moving average of $291.21 and a 200-day moving average of $267.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.04.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 28th. The CRM provider reported $2.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.20. Salesforce had a net margin of 15.44% and a return on equity of 12.01%. The firm had revenue of $9.33 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.22 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.63 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 8th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 18th were issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 18th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.83%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 413 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $285.29, for a total value of $117,824.77. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 7,006 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,998,741.74. This trade represents a 5.57 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Parker Harris sold 3,970 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $296.74, for a total value of $1,178,057.80. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 119,402 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $35,431,349.48. This represents a 3.22 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 136,117 shares of company stock worth $39,085,562 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

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.