AFT Forsyth & Company Inc. Has $3.30 Million Holdings in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

AFT Forsyth & Company Inc. grew its holdings in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 0.6% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 9,864 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after buying an additional 60 shares during the period. Salesforce comprises about 1.6% of AFT Forsyth & Company Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest holding. AFT Forsyth & Company Inc.’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $3,298,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in CRM. Nvest Financial LLC boosted its stake in Salesforce by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Nvest Financial LLC now owns 2,806 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $938,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. OMC Financial Services LTD raised its holdings in Salesforce by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. OMC Financial Services LTD now owns 11,390 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $3,808,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the period. Sachetta LLC boosted its position in shares of Salesforce by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Sachetta LLC now owns 11,018 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $3,684,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. Aviance Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Aviance Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,797 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,860,000 after buying an additional 33 shares during the period. Finally, EWA LLC raised its stake in Salesforce by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. EWA LLC now owns 2,001 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $548,000 after buying an additional 33 shares during the period. 80.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on CRM. KeyCorp raised Salesforce from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $440.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, December 13th. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $450.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Guggenheim downgraded shares of Salesforce from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $247.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Monday, January 6th. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $415.00 price target (up previously from $385.00) on shares of Salesforce in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Cfra set a $343.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, October 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, thirty-one have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $377.63.

Insider Activity

In other Salesforce news, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 436 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $332.28, for a total transaction of $144,874.08. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 7,057 shares in the company, valued at $2,344,899.96. This represents a 5.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Brian Millham sold 14,808 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $338.95, for a total transaction of $5,019,171.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 1,111,420 shares of company stock valued at $384,366,700. 3.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Salesforce Price Performance

Shares of CRM opened at $326.26 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $312.23 billion, a PE ratio of 53.66, a PEG ratio of 2.66 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. The company’s 50-day moving average is $338.74 and its 200-day moving average is $301.96. Salesforce, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $212.00 and a fifty-two week high of $369.00.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, December 3rd. The CRM provider reported $2.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.44 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $9.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.35 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 12.34% and a net margin of 15.96%. The company’s revenue was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.62 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.48 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 18th were issued 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%.

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.