Shepherd Financial Partners LLC Increases Stock Position in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Shepherd Financial Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 3.5% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 8,330 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after buying an additional 280 shares during the quarter. Shepherd Financial Partners LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $2,785,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Veritas Asset Management LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the third quarter valued at approximately $733,805,000. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its stake in Salesforce by 52.7% during the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 4,433,785 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,482,347,000 after purchasing an additional 1,530,572 shares during the period. Swedbank AB grew its position in Salesforce by 46.7% during the 4th quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 3,829,773 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,280,408,000 after purchasing an additional 1,219,254 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV raised its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 171.2% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,634,834 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $447,470,000 after buying an additional 1,032,068 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 23,664.2% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,002,848 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $274,490,000 after buying an additional 998,628 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Salesforce

In other Salesforce news, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 436 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $332.28, for a total value of $144,874.08. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 7,057 shares in the company, valued at $2,344,899.96. This trade represents a 5.82 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Parker Harris sold 652 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $332.28, for a total transaction of $216,646.56. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 121,467 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $40,361,054.76. This represents a 0.53 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,111,420 shares of company stock worth $384,366,700 in the last three months. Company insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Stock Performance

NYSE:CRM opened at $325.81 on Friday. Salesforce, Inc. has a 1-year low of $212.00 and a 1-year high of $369.00. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $339.05 and a 200-day simple moving average of $299.87. The firm has a market cap of $311.80 billion, a PE ratio of 53.59, a P/E/G ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 1.11.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, December 3rd. The CRM provider reported $2.41 earnings per share 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 return on equity of 12.34% and a net margin of 15.96%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.62 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.48 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 18th were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 18th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.32%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CRM has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Salesforce from $275.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Citigroup boosted 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. Macquarie restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $370.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of Salesforce from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Guggenheim lowered Salesforce from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $247.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Monday, January 6th. One 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $377.63.

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.