Douglas Lane & Associates LLC Invests $24.81 Million in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Douglas Lane & Associates LLC acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund acquired 90,637 shares of the CRM provider’s stock, valued at approximately $24,808,000.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 186.7% during the first quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 86 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Piscataqua Savings Bank boosted its holdings in Salesforce by 2,400.0% during the second quarter. Piscataqua Savings Bank now owns 100 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. Clear Investment Research LLC boosted its holdings in Salesforce by 816.7% during the second quarter. Clear Investment Research LLC now owns 110 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 98 shares during the last quarter. Red Tortoise LLC acquired a new position in Salesforce during the first quarter worth $33,000. Finally, Stephens Consulting LLC boosted its holdings in Salesforce by 3,125.0% during the second quarter. Stephens Consulting LLC now owns 129 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CRM has been the subject of several recent research reports. Loop Capital restated a “hold” rating and set a $270.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, September 19th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Salesforce from $265.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Erste Group Bank restated a “hold” rating on shares of Salesforce in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Salesforce from $250.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Raymond James increased their price target on shares of Salesforce from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $310.74.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 413 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.78, for a total transaction of $105,637.14. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 6,431 shares in the company, valued at $1,644,921.18. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, Director Maynard G. Webb, Jr. sold 9,170 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $276.32, for a total transaction of $2,533,854.40. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 1,363 shares in the company, valued at $376,624.16. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 413 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.78, for a total transaction of $105,637.14. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 6,431 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,644,921.18. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 80,612 shares of company stock worth $21,283,087. Corporate insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Price Performance

CRM stock traded down $2.07 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $288.10. The stock had a trading volume of 3,597,035 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,491,262. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. Salesforce, Inc. has a 52 week low of $193.68 and a 52 week high of $318.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $275.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.10, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.30. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $261.93 and a 200 day simple moving average of $263.88.

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

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 8th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 18th were paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 18th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.56%. Salesforce’s payout ratio is currently 27.83%.

Salesforce 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.