Ethos Financial Group LLC Takes Position in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Ethos Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 707 shares of the CRM provider’s stock, valued at approximately $237,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of CRM. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,173,564,000. Jennison Associates LLC increased its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 52.7% during the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 4,433,785 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,482,347,000 after acquiring an additional 1,530,572 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB boosted its position in Salesforce by 46.7% in the fourth quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 3,829,773 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,280,408,000 after buying an additional 1,219,254 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV boosted its position in Salesforce by 171.2% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,634,834 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $447,470,000 after buying an additional 1,032,068 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in Salesforce by 56,872.2% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 933,204 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $311,998,000 after buying an additional 931,566 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Salesforce

In other news, CFO Amy E. Weaver sold 6,221 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $301.00, for a total transaction of $1,872,521.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 46,750 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,071,750. This represents a 11.74 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director G Mason Morfit sold 722,300 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $346.11, for a total value of $249,995,253.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 3,192,009 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,108,793 shares of company stock worth $383,156,227. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on CRM. Erste Group Bank upgraded Salesforce from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Salesforce from $345.00 to $310.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. KeyCorp upgraded Salesforce from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $440.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $425.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Salesforce from $340.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, thirty-one have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Salesforce presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $365.62.

Salesforce Stock Down 2.0 %

Shares of CRM opened at $286.01 on Friday. Salesforce, Inc. has a 52-week low of $212.00 and a 52-week high of $369.00. The company has a market capitalization of $273.72 billion, a PE ratio of 47.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.35. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $324.79 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $308.06. The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last released its quarterly earnings results 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). The business 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%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.62 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current year.

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.