Sapient Capital LLC Purchases Shares of 6,296 Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Sapient Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund purchased 6,296 shares of the CRM provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,657,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Folger Nolan Fleming Douglas Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 7.3% in the third quarter. Folger Nolan Fleming Douglas Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,032 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $209,000 after buying an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Smithbridge Asset Management Inc. DE lifted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Smithbridge Asset Management Inc. DE now owns 15,040 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $3,050,000 after purchasing an additional 168 shares during the period. Geneva Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Salesforce during the third quarter worth $858,000. Sage Mountain Advisors LLC grew its position in Salesforce by 20.1% during the third quarter. Sage Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 2,881 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $584,000 after buying an additional 483 shares during the period. Finally, BNC Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce in the third quarter worth about $2,159,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on CRM shares. KeyCorp started coverage on Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. They set a “sector weight” rating on the stock. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $285.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $345.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a report on Monday, April 15th. Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $300.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Salesforce from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $310.61.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $269.53, for a total value of $4,042,950.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 12,707,327 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,425,005,846.31. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Salesforce news, insider Srinivas Tallapragada sold 2,890 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.32, for a total transaction of $893,934.80. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 60,416 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,687,877.12. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $269.53, for a total transaction of $4,042,950.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 12,707,327 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,425,005,846.31. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 629,993 shares of company stock worth $184,255,474 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 3.70% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of Salesforce stock traded up $1.53 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $273.66. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 4,041,636 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,219,539. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $294.23 and a 200-day moving average of $266.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.09. The stock has a market cap of $264.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 65.16, a P/E/G ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.30. Salesforce, Inc. has a twelve month low of $190.76 and a twelve month high of $318.71.

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

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

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