Janus Henderson Group PLC Grows Position in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its stake in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 3.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 648,753 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after buying an additional 21,298 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $195,189,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of CRM. Graypoint LLC grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 10,504 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,764,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares during the period. Chase Investment Counsel Corp grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Chase Investment Counsel Corp now owns 10,377 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,730,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares during the period. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 11.4% in the fourth quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 353 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $93,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares during the period. Opes Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Opes Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,295 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $341,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the period. Finally, Fox Hill Wealth Management grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 4.0% in the first quarter. Fox Hill Wealth Management now owns 985 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $297,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CRM has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on Salesforce from $335.00 to $265.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. DA Davidson lowered their price target on Salesforce from $300.00 to $230.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Canaccord Genuity Group lowered their price target on Salesforce from $350.00 to $300.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on Salesforce from $355.00 to $295.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on Salesforce from $360.00 to $350.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, twenty-five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $292.79.

Insider Buying and Selling at Salesforce

In other Salesforce news, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 413 shares of the company’s 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 $105,637.14. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 6,431 shares in the company, valued at $1,644,921.18. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $269.53, for a total transaction of $4,042,950.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 12,707,327 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,425,005,846.31. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 413 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.78, for a total value of $105,637.14. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 6,431 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,644,921.18. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 305,042 shares of company stock worth $81,019,465 over the last quarter. 3.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Salesforce Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE:CRM traded down $0.66 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $257.93. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,893,822 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,784,893. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $250.63 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $275.47. Salesforce, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $193.68 and a fifty-two week high of $318.71. The company has a market capitalization of $249.93 billion, a PE ratio of 46.40, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 1.11.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 29th. The CRM provider reported $2.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.38 by $0.06. Salesforce had a return on equity of 11.57% and a net margin of 15.30%. The firm had revenue of $9.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.15 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.15 earnings per share. Salesforce’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.47 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 25th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 9th were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.62%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, July 9th. Salesforce’s payout ratio is currently 28.78%.

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.