Woodard & Co. Asset Management Group Inc. ADV Makes New $779,000 Investment in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Woodard & Co. Asset Management Group Inc. ADV bought a new position in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 2,331 shares of the CRM provider’s stock, valued at approximately $779,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Sanctuary Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 24.8% during the 4th quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 178,613 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $61,366,000 after purchasing an additional 35,493 shares in the last quarter. Rational Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce during the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,678,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Salesforce by 9.2% during the 4th quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC now owns 726 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $243,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. boosted its position in shares of Salesforce by 20.5% during the 4th quarter. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. now owns 1,886 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $631,000 after acquiring an additional 321 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Salesforce by 6.7% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,687,444 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $564,163,000 after acquiring an additional 105,358 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of Salesforce from $400.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. DA Davidson increased their price target on shares of Salesforce from $250.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Salesforce from $330.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Macquarie reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $370.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $400.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, thirty-one have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $377.63.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Brian Millham sold 14,808 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $338.95, for a total value of $5,019,171.60. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Amy E. Weaver sold 6,221 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $335.94, for a total transaction of $2,089,882.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 46,750 shares in the company, valued at $15,705,195. The trade was a 11.74 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,111,420 shares of company stock worth $384,366,700 in the last three months. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Salesforce Stock Performance

Shares of CRM stock opened at $325.49 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $311.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.53, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $336.56 and its 200 day moving average is $303.11. Salesforce, Inc. has a 12 month low of $212.00 and a 12 month high of $369.00.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, December 3rd. The CRM provider reported $2.41 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.44 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $9.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.35 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 15.96% and a return on equity of 12.34%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.62 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 18th were paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 18th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is presently 26.32%.

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.