Beaumont Asset Management L.L.C. Buys 39 Shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Beaumont Asset Management L.L.C. lifted its holdings in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 0.4% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 8,901 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 39 shares during the period. Salesforce makes up 1.7% of Beaumont Asset Management L.L.C.’s holdings, making the stock its 12th largest holding. Beaumont Asset Management L.L.C.’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $2,342,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in CRM. Bear Mountain Capital Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. purchased a new position in Salesforce during the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Pacifica Partners Inc. boosted its stake in Salesforce by 333.3% in the fourth quarter. Pacifica Partners Inc. now owns 130 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. BKM Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Salesforce in the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, AlphaMark Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Salesforce by 892.9% in the fourth quarter. AlphaMark Advisors LLC now owns 139 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the period. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Salesforce from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 12th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Salesforce from $325.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $342.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a report on Monday, April 15th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Salesforce from $310.00 to $355.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Salesforce from $260.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Nine equities research 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Salesforce currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $310.61.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $278.62, for a total transaction of $4,179,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,701,166 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,817,418,870.92. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Salesforce news, insider Srinivas Tallapragada sold 2,890 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.32, for a total value of $893,934.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 60,416 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,687,877.12. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $278.62, for a total value of $4,179,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,701,166 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,817,418,870.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 596,379 shares of company stock worth $175,587,970 in the last three months. 3.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Salesforce Price Performance

Shares of CRM traded up $2.87 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $276.68. 6,192,207 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,707,583. The company has a quick ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $268.38 billion, a PE ratio of 65.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 1.28. Salesforce, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $190.57 and a fifty-two week high of $318.71. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $297.00 and a 200 day simple moving average of $262.79.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 28th. The CRM provider reported $1.78 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.72 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $9.29 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.22 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 10.42% and a net margin of 11.87%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.01 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

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

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.