Purkiss Capital Advisors LLC Purchases New Position in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Purkiss Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund acquired 783 shares of the CRM provider’s stock, valued at approximately $262,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in CRM. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Salesforce by 27.4% in the third quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 512 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $140,000 after acquiring an additional 110 shares during the period. Eads & Heald Wealth Management increased its stake in shares of Salesforce by 7.9% in the 3rd quarter. Eads & Heald Wealth Management now owns 2,841 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $778,000 after purchasing an additional 207 shares in the last quarter. Roanoke Asset Management Corp NY increased its stake in shares of Salesforce by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. Roanoke Asset Management Corp NY now owns 22,165 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $6,067,000 after purchasing an additional 580 shares in the last quarter. Weatherly Asset Management L. P. acquired a new position in Salesforce in the 3rd quarter worth about $213,000. Finally, Dash Acquisitions Inc. boosted its position in Salesforce by 4.8% during the third quarter. Dash Acquisitions Inc. now owns 58,996 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $17,136,000 after purchasing an additional 2,679 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Salesforce from $345.00 to $310.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of Salesforce from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. KeyCorp upgraded shares of Salesforce from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $440.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Loop Capital reduced their price target on shares of Salesforce from $330.00 to $300.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Salesforce from $300.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, thirty-two have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $365.32.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 436 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $332.28, for a total transaction of $144,874.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director G Mason Morfit sold 722,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $346.11, for a total transaction of $249,995,253.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 3,192,009 shares in the company, valued at $1,104,786,234.99. This trade represents a 18.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,102,572 shares of company stock valued at $381,283,706. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Salesforce Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of CRM opened at $297.63 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $329.11 and its 200 day moving average price is $307.58. Salesforce, Inc. has a 12-month low of $212.00 and a 12-month high of $369.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The firm has a market cap of $284.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.31.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, December 3rd. The CRM provider reported $2.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.44 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $9.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.35 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 15.96% and a return on equity of 12.34%. Salesforce’s revenue was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.62 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 18th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 18th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.54%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is currently 25.16%.

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.