Swedbank AB Grows Stock Holdings in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Swedbank AB raised its stake in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 46.7% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 3,829,773 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,219,254 shares during the period. Salesforce makes up about 1.6% of Swedbank AB’s holdings, making the stock its 10th largest holding. Swedbank AB’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $1,280,408,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in CRM. Infrastructure Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the third quarter worth about $27,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL acquired a new position in Salesforce in the second quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Godsey & Gibb Inc. raised its position in Salesforce by 300.0% in the third quarter. Godsey & Gibb Inc. now owns 120 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares during the period. Annapolis Financial Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 135.6% in the third quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 139 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the period. Finally, FSA Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Salesforce during the 3rd quarter worth about $53,000. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on CRM shares. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $405.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $415.00 target price (up previously from $385.00) on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Salesforce from $300.00 to $420.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. KeyCorp upgraded Salesforce from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $440.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of Salesforce from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report 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 issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Salesforce presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $377.63.

Salesforce Stock Down 2.0 %

CRM traded down $7.13 on Wednesday, reaching $352.82. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 940,597 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,960,337. The business’s 50 day moving average is $337.96 and its 200 day moving average is $296.02. Salesforce, Inc. has a 1 year low of $212.00 and a 1 year high of $369.00. The stock has a market cap of $337.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 57.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 1.11.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $9.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.35 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 12.34% and a net margin of 15.96%. The firm’s revenue was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.62 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 18th were paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, December 18th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.32%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 500 shares of the firm’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 sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 6,506 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,888,236.38. This trade represents a 7.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Marc Benioff sold 317,105 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $346.78, for a total transaction of $109,965,671.90. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 12,162,457 shares in the company, valued at $4,217,696,838.46. This trade represents a 2.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,109,169 shares of company stock valued at $383,432,020 over the last three months. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.