Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) Shares Acquired by W.G. Shaheen & Associates DBA Whitney & Co

W.G. Shaheen & Associates DBA Whitney & Co boosted its holdings in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 0.5% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 34,367 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 163 shares during the period. W.G. Shaheen & Associates DBA Whitney & Co’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $11,490,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of CRM. Arlington Trust Co LLC increased its position in Salesforce by 85.1% in the 4th quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC now owns 87 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the period. Compass Financial Services Inc purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Asset Planning Inc acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Collier Financial purchased a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the fourth quarter worth approximately $32,000. Finally, Infrastructure Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the third quarter worth $27,000. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on CRM. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $340.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. KeyCorp raised shares of Salesforce from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $440.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, December 13th. Macquarie restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $370.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Northland Securities reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $440.00 price target (up previously from $400.00) on shares of Salesforce in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $400.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, thirty-two have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $375.53.

Salesforce Price Performance

NYSE CRM opened at $309.54 on Monday. Salesforce, Inc. has a 12 month low of $212.00 and a 12 month high of $369.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $296.23 billion, a PE ratio of 50.91, a P/E/G ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.31. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $333.34 and its 200 day simple moving average is $306.18. 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 (EPS) 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 firm had revenue of $9.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.35 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.62 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 18th were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 18th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is presently 26.32%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Parker Harris sold 942 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $339.78, for a total transaction of $320,072.76. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 120,333 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $40,886,746.74. This represents a 0.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Marc Benioff sold 317,105 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $346.78, for a total value of $109,965,671.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 12,162,457 shares in the company, valued at $4,217,696,838.46. This represents a 2.54 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,102,114 shares of company stock worth $381,142,656. Corporate 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.