Studio Investment Management LLC Acquires 41 Shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Studio Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 1.7% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 2,401 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the period. Studio Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $658,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in CRM. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Salesforce by 13.6% in 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 acquiring an additional 6,938 shares in the last quarter. Aljian Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 16.1% during the third quarter. Aljian Capital Management LLC now owns 13,258 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $3,629,000 after purchasing an additional 1,834 shares during the period. AIA Group Ltd boosted its position in shares of Salesforce by 8.9% during the 3rd quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 24,028 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $6,577,000 after purchasing an additional 1,962 shares in the last quarter. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Salesforce by 13.6% in the 3rd quarter. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. now owns 89,098 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $24,387,000 after buying an additional 10,656 shares during the period. Finally, XN LP increased 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 buying an additional 90,616 shares in the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on CRM shares. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Salesforce from $295.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Piper Sandler downgraded shares of Salesforce from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of Salesforce from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $325.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Salesforce from $320.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Eight 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 company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $332.11.

Insider Activity at Salesforce

In other news, insider Parker Harris sold 3,528 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.59, for a total transaction of $884,081.52. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 117,581 shares in the company, valued at $29,464,622.79. This represents a 2.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Sabastian Niles sold 2,484 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $244.81, for a total transaction of $608,108.04. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 828 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $202,702.68. This represents a 75.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 133,183 shares of company stock worth $38,314,066. Corporate insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Price Performance

Salesforce stock opened at $336.19 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $292.86 and its 200 day simple moving average is $268.20. Salesforce, Inc. has a 12 month low of $212.00 and a 12 month high of $348.86. The company has a market cap of $321.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 58.47, a PEG ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 1.29.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The CRM provider reported $2.56 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.20. Salesforce had a return on equity of 12.01% and a net margin of 15.44%. The firm had revenue of $9.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.22 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.63 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.55 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 8th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 18th were issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 18th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.83%.

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.