651 Shares in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) Acquired by MFA Wealth Services

MFA Wealth Services bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor bought 651 shares of the CRM provider’s stock, valued at approximately $217,000.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Gabelli Funds LLC boosted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 11.9% during the second quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 2,405 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $618,000 after purchasing an additional 255 shares in the last quarter. APG Asset Management US Inc. grew its stake in Salesforce by 15.9% in the second quarter. APG Asset Management US Inc. now owns 476,406 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $122,060,000 after purchasing an additional 65,498 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its holdings in Salesforce by 25.1% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,378,826 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,125,331,000 after purchasing an additional 877,495 shares in the last quarter. Eminence Capital LP boosted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 4.6% in the 2nd quarter. Eminence Capital LP now owns 544,692 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $140,040,000 after buying an additional 23,997 shares in the last quarter. Finally, EDENTREE ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 31.6% in the 2nd quarter. EDENTREE ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd now owns 54,205 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $13,936,000 after buying an additional 13,010 shares during the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Salesforce Stock Up 0.6 %

Salesforce stock opened at $334.75 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 1.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $320.36 billion, a PE ratio of 55.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 1.30. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $336.50 and a 200-day simple moving average of $293.20. Salesforce, Inc. has a 12 month low of $212.00 and a 12 month high of $369.00.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last issued 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 during 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 was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.62 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 18th were issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, December 18th. Salesforce’s payout ratio is 26.32%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Salesforce

In other news, COO Brian Millham sold 708 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $332.28, for a total value of $235,254.24. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 1,239 shares in the company, valued at $411,694.92. This represents a 36.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $290.23, for a total transaction of $145,115.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 6,506 shares in the company, valued at $1,888,236.38. The trade was a 7.14 % 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 quarter. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CRM has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. TD Cowen raised shares of Salesforce from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $380.00 to $400.00 in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Salesforce from $390.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their target price on Salesforce from $315.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Barclays increased their price target on Salesforce from $415.00 to $425.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Erste Group Bank upgraded Salesforce from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, thirty-one have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $377.63.

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.