Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Purchases 13,793 Shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its position in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 1.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 832,881 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 13,793 shares during the quarter. Salesforce accounts for 0.4% of Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ portfolio, making the stock its 29th biggest holding. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ holdings in Salesforce were worth $227,967,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of CRM. M&G Plc bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the 1st quarter worth about $2,178,000. First Foundation Advisors increased its stake in Salesforce by 38.0% during the first quarter. First Foundation Advisors now owns 828 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $249,000 after acquiring an additional 228 shares during the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. increased its stake in Salesforce by 1,126.0% during the first quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 9,367 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $2,821,000 after acquiring an additional 8,603 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 16.0% in the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 950 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $286,000 after purchasing an additional 131 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rockport Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce in the 1st quarter worth approximately $598,000. 80.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on CRM. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Salesforce from $320.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and issued a $315.00 target price (up previously from $300.00) on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, September 19th. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Salesforce to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. DA Davidson raised their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Northland Securities raised Salesforce from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $270.00 to $400.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $322.51.

Salesforce Stock Down 1.9 %

NYSE:CRM opened at $325.26 on Friday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $286.61 and its 200-day simple moving average is $266.62. 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 fifty-two week low of $212.00 and a fifty-two week high of $348.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $310.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 56.57, a P/E/G ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 1.29.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced its earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $9.33 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.22 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 15.44% and a return on equity of 12.01%. Salesforce’s revenue was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.63 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 8th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 18th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 18th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.83%.

Insider Activity at Salesforce

In other Salesforce news, insider Parker Harris sold 4,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $262.97, for a total transaction of $1,104,474.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 117,581 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,920,275.57. This represents a 3.45 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Sabastian Niles sold 2,484 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $244.81, for a total transaction of $608,108.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 828 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $202,702.68. This represents a 75.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 144,373 shares of company stock valued at $41,250,680 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce 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.