LWM Advisory Services LLC Buys Shares of 864 Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

LWM Advisory Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm bought 864 shares of the CRM provider’s stock, valued at approximately $227,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 1,254.7% in the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 3,483,670 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $916,693,000 after acquiring an additional 3,226,512 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 23,653.7% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,406,220 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $370,033,000 after acquiring an additional 1,400,300 shares during the period. Lone Pine Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 47.5% in the 3rd quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC now owns 2,499,630 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $506,875,000 after acquiring an additional 804,634 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 330.0% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 935,885 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $189,779,000 after acquiring an additional 718,245 shares during the period. Finally, J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $114,521,000. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CRM has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Argus upped their price target on shares of Salesforce from $290.00 to $354.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $300.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a report on Monday, April 15th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Salesforce from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Salesforce from $310.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $342.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a report on Monday, April 15th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $310.61.

Insider Activity at Salesforce

In related news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.94, for a total value of $4,064,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 12,827,327 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,475,435,977.38. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Salesforce news, COO Brian Millham sold 4,204 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $278.00, for a total transaction of $1,168,712.00. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction on Friday, April 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.94, for a total value of $4,064,100.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 12,827,327 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,475,435,977.38. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 610,793 shares of company stock worth $179,197,018. 3.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Salesforce Stock Performance

Shares of CRM stock traded up $1.57 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $275.86. 3,608,431 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,637,167. Salesforce, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $190.76 and a fifty-two week high of $318.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $267.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 65.27, a P/E/G ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 1.28. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $295.97 and a 200-day moving average price of $264.71. The company has a quick ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The CRM provider reported $1.78 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.72 by $0.06. Salesforce had a return on equity of 10.42% and a net margin of 11.87%. The company had revenue of $9.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.22 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.01 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 13th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.52%.

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.