SeaBridge Investment Advisors LLC Boosts Holdings in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

SeaBridge Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 1.7% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 20,080 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 333 shares during the quarter. Salesforce accounts for 1.4% of SeaBridge Investment Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest position. SeaBridge Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $6,713,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Veritas Asset Management LLP purchased a new position in Salesforce during the third quarter valued at approximately $733,805,000. Swedbank AB lifted its holdings in Salesforce by 46.7% during the fourth quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 3,829,773 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,280,408,000 after purchasing an additional 1,219,254 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV lifted its holdings in Salesforce by 171.2% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,634,834 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $447,470,000 after purchasing an additional 1,032,068 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Salesforce by 23,664.2% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,002,848 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $274,490,000 after purchasing an additional 998,628 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Salesforce by 1.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 49,007,404 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $13,432,855,000 after purchasing an additional 864,193 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $425.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $405.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $415.00 price objective (up previously from $385.00) on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $340.00 to $430.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Northland Securities reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $440.00 price objective (up previously from $400.00) on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, thirty-one have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $377.63.

Salesforce Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of CRM opened at $341.80 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $327.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 56.22, a P/E/G ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 1.30. Salesforce, Inc. has a 12-month low of $212.00 and a 12-month high of $369.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $338.67 and a 200-day moving average price of $297.37.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last released 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). Salesforce had a return on equity of 12.34% and a net margin of 15.96%. The business had revenue of $9.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.35 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.62 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 18th were paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, December 18th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.32%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Salesforce news, insider Parker Harris sold 3,970 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 119,402 shares in the company, valued at approximately $35,431,349.48. The trade was a 3.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director G Mason Morfit sold 722,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the director now owns 3,192,009 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,104,786,234.99. This represents a 18.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,108,669 shares of company stock valued at $383,286,905 over the last three months. 3.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.