Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. Makes New Investment in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. bought a new position in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm bought 1,005 shares of the CRM provider’s stock, valued at approximately $303,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CRM. Graypoint LLC grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 10,504 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,764,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. Chase Investment Counsel Corp grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Chase Investment Counsel Corp now owns 10,377 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,730,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 11.4% in the fourth quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 353 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $93,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. Opes Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Salesforce by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Opes Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,295 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $341,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Prentice Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Salesforce by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Prentice Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,294 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $604,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Salesforce

In related news, insider Srinivas Tallapragada sold 942 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.32, for a total value of $228,265.44. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 22,154 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,368,357.28. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Salesforce news, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 2,425 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $273.15, for a total transaction of $662,388.75. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 5,856 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,599,566.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Srinivas Tallapragada sold 942 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.32, for a total transaction of $228,265.44. Following the sale, the insider now owns 22,154 shares in the company, valued at $5,368,357.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 547,387 shares of company stock worth $151,174,635 in the last ninety days. 3.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently issued reports on CRM shares. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and set a $300.00 target price (down previously from $360.00) on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. TD Cowen decreased their target price on shares of Salesforce from $330.00 to $285.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Argus raised their target price on shares of Salesforce from $290.00 to $354.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Salesforce from $310.00 to $250.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut their price target on shares of Salesforce from $355.00 to $295.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, twenty-five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Salesforce presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $292.79.

Salesforce Trading Up 1.7 %

NYSE CRM opened at $257.10 on Friday. Salesforce, Inc. has a one year low of $193.68 and a one year high of $318.71. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $259.79 and a 200-day simple moving average of $276.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 1.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $249.13 billion, a PE ratio of 46.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.25.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 29th. The CRM provider reported $2.44 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.38 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $9.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.15 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 15.30% and a return on equity of 11.57%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.15 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 25th. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 9th will be given a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, July 9th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.62%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is presently 7.19%.

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.