Souders Financial Advisors Has $1.20 Million Stake in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Souders Financial Advisors boosted its stake in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 9.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,386 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 368 shares during the quarter. Souders Financial Advisors’ holdings in Salesforce were worth $1,201,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. TBH Global Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Salesforce by 25.7% in the first quarter. TBH Global Asset Management LLC now owns 2,156 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $649,000 after acquiring an additional 441 shares during the last quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Salesforce by 10.0% in the 1st quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 93,204 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $28,071,000 after purchasing an additional 8,472 shares during the last quarter. Midwest Professional Planners LTD. grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 17.7% during the first quarter. Midwest Professional Planners LTD. now owns 13,413 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $4,040,000 after purchasing an additional 2,013 shares during the last quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC increased its stake in shares of Salesforce by 41.3% in the first quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC now owns 5,251 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,582,000 after buying an additional 1,536 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Element Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Salesforce in the first quarter valued at about $1,330,000. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CRM has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, September 19th. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Salesforce to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on Salesforce from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Northland Securities raised Salesforce from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $270.00 to $400.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, DA Davidson lifted their price objective on Salesforce from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $316.37.

Salesforce Stock Performance

Shares of CRM stock opened at $341.20 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $326.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 59.34, a PEG ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.04. Salesforce, Inc. has a 52 week low of $211.76 and a 52 week high of $348.86. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $281.40 and a 200 day simple moving average of $265.31.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 28th. The CRM provider reported $2.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.20. Salesforce had a return on equity of 12.01% and a net margin of 15.44%. The firm had revenue of $9.33 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.22 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.63 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 8th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 18th were paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 18th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.83%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Sabastian Niles sold 2,484 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $244.81, for a total value of $608,108.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 828 shares in the company, valued at approximately $202,702.68. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Salesforce news, insider Sabastian Niles sold 2,484 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $244.81, for a total value of $608,108.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 828 shares in the company, valued at approximately $202,702.68. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Parker Harris sold 3,528 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.59, for a total transaction of $884,081.52. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 117,581 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,464,622.79. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 144,373 shares of company stock valued at $41,250,680. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.