Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. Boosts Stake in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. grew its stake in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 29.7% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 44,721 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 10,247 shares during the quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc.’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $11,768,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Aveo Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 44.7% during the fourth quarter. Aveo Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,605 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $422,000 after acquiring an additional 496 shares during the last quarter. Westover Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Salesforce in the 4th quarter valued at about $207,000. Concentrum Wealth Management acquired a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the 4th quarter worth about $203,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 36.9% during the fourth quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 1,366,556 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $359,596,000 after buying an additional 368,603 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Natixis Advisors L.P. raised its position in shares of Salesforce by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 1,157,304 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $304,531,000 after buying an additional 19,861 shares during the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Salesforce news, COO Brian Millham sold 24,453 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $302.08, for a total value of $7,386,762.24. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Salesforce news, COO Brian Millham sold 24,453 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $302.08, for a total transaction of $7,386,762.24. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $285.82, for a total value of $4,287,300.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,581,166 shares in the company, valued at $3,881,768,866.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 629,993 shares of company stock valued at $184,255,474 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 3.70% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on CRM shares. StockNews.com cut shares of Salesforce from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on Salesforce from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $345.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a report on Monday, April 15th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $285.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $300.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $310.61.

Salesforce Stock Performance

Salesforce stock traded up $1.53 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $273.66. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 4,033,233 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,571,602. The firm has a market cap of $265.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 65.16, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 1.30. Salesforce, Inc. has a twelve month low of $190.76 and a twelve month high of $318.71. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $294.61 and a 200-day moving average price of $265.72. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The CRM provider reported $1.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.72 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $9.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.22 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 11.87% and a return on equity of 10.42%. Salesforce’s revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.01 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 13th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.58%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.52%.

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.