Apexium Financial LP Acquires 83 Shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Apexium Financial LP increased its holdings in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 5.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,647 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 83 shares during the quarter. Apexium Financial LP’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $551,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Nabity Jensen Investment Management Inc bought a new position in Salesforce during the third quarter valued at about $1,215,000. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 13.6% during the 3rd quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 58,036 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $15,885,000 after acquiring an additional 6,938 shares during the period. Aljian Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Salesforce by 16.1% during the 3rd quarter. Aljian Capital Management LLC now owns 13,258 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $3,629,000 after purchasing an additional 1,834 shares during the last quarter. AIA Group Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 8.9% in the 3rd quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 24,028 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $6,577,000 after purchasing an additional 1,962 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Salesforce by 1.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,780,318 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $5,395,132,000 after purchasing an additional 257,501 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Bank of America boosted their target price on Salesforce from $390.00 to $440.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Northland Capmk raised shares of Salesforce from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Macquarie reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $370.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of Salesforce from $425.00 to $440.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $368.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, thirty-one have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $377.63.

Salesforce Stock Up 4.0 %

CRM opened at $347.26 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $332.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 57.12, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 1.30. Salesforce, Inc. has a 12 month low of $212.00 and a 12 month high of $369.00. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $336.73 and its 200-day moving average price is $294.60. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

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

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 18th were given a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 18th. Salesforce’s payout ratio is 26.32%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Parker Harris sold 3,970 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $296.74, for a total transaction of $1,178,057.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 119,402 shares in the company, valued at $35,431,349.48. This represents a 3.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $290.23, for a total transaction of $145,115.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 6,506 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,888,236.38. The trade was a 7.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,109,169 shares of company stock valued at $383,432,020. Insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

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.