Acorn Creek Capital LLC Purchases 75 Shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Acorn Creek Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 9.3% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 885 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after buying an additional 75 shares during the quarter. Acorn Creek Capital LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $242,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in Salesforce by 26.9% in the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 14,376,536 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $4,329,925,000 after purchasing an additional 3,044,611 shares in the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC bought a new position in Salesforce in the 1st quarter worth $910,220,000. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the 1st quarter worth about $874,748,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 48.3% in the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 5,906,877 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,518,658,000 after buying an additional 1,922,674 shares during the period. Finally, AMF Tjanstepension AB grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 376.1% in the 2nd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 1,442,453 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $370,873,000 after buying an additional 1,139,472 shares during the period. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on CRM. Wedbush upped their target price on shares of Salesforce from $315.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. FBN Securities raised shares of Salesforce to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Roth Mkm reissued a “buy” rating and set a $335.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Salesforce from $265.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Northland Capmk raised shares of Salesforce from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $310.74.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Salesforce news, Director Maynard G. Webb, Jr. sold 9,170 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $276.32, for a total transaction of $2,533,854.40. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 1,363 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $376,624.16. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Maynard G. Webb, Jr. sold 9,170 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $276.32, for a total value of $2,533,854.40. Following the transaction, the director now owns 1,363 shares in the company, valued at approximately $376,624.16. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider R David Schmaier sold 1,155 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.78, for a total transaction of $295,425.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 20,556 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,257,813.68. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 76,412 shares of company stock valued at $20,212,507 over the last three months. 3.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Salesforce Trading Down 1.1 %

CRM stock opened at $288.31 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.04. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $263.98 and a 200 day moving average price of $263.46. The firm has a market cap of $279.37 billion, a PE ratio of 51.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.30. Salesforce, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $193.68 and a fifty-two week high of $318.71.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 28th. The CRM provider reported $2.56 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $9.33 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.22 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 15.44% and a return on equity of 12.01%. Salesforce’s quarterly revenue was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.63 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 8th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 18th were paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 18th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.78%.

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.