AlphaMark Advisors LLC Grows Position in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

AlphaMark Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 75.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 238 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 102 shares during the period. AlphaMark Advisors LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $80,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Veritas Asset Management LLP purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $733,805,000. KBC Group NV boosted its position in shares of Salesforce by 171.2% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,634,834 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $447,470,000 after buying an additional 1,032,068 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 23,664.2% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,002,848 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $274,490,000 after buying an additional 998,628 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Salesforce by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 49,007,404 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $13,432,855,000 after acquiring an additional 864,193 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in Salesforce by 95.7% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,624,520 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $462,063,000 after acquiring an additional 794,506 shares during the period. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on CRM. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Salesforce from $360.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Northland Capmk upgraded shares of Salesforce from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Salesforce from $275.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Citigroup upped their price objective on Salesforce from $368.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $415.00 price target (up previously from $385.00) on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, thirty-one have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $377.63.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Salesforce news, insider Parker Harris sold 4,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $298.04, for a total transaction of $1,251,768.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 119,402 shares in the company, valued at approximately $35,586,572.08. This represents a 3.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Amy E. Weaver sold 897 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $332.28, for a total transaction of $298,055.16. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 46,750 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,534,090. The trade was a 1.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,173,891 shares of company stock valued at $402,840,388 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Stock Down 0.4 %

CRM opened at $333.47 on Monday. Salesforce, Inc. has a 52 week low of $212.00 and a 52 week high of $369.00. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $336.73 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $294.31. The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The company has a market cap of $319.13 billion, a PE ratio of 54.85, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 1.30.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last released its quarterly 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 company had revenue of $9.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.62 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.48 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 18th were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, December 18th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.48%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.32%.

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.