Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) Shares Bought by Aptus Capital Advisors LLC

Aptus Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 24.0% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 8,917 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,724 shares during the quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $2,441,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in CRM. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in Salesforce by 13.6% during the third quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 58,036 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $15,885,000 after purchasing an additional 6,938 shares during the period. AIA Group Ltd grew its stake in Salesforce by 8.9% during the 3rd quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 24,028 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $6,577,000 after acquiring an additional 1,962 shares in the last quarter. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. grew its stake in Salesforce by 13.6% during the 3rd quarter. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. now owns 89,098 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $24,387,000 after acquiring an additional 10,656 shares in the last quarter. XN LP lifted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 24.2% in the 2nd quarter. XN LP now owns 464,489 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $119,420,000 after acquiring an additional 90,616 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Atomi Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 27.5% in the 3rd quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 11,999 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $3,284,000 after acquiring an additional 2,589 shares during the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Cfra set a $343.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Salesforce from $300.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Raymond James increased their price target on shares of Salesforce from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price target on shares of Salesforce from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Salesforce has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $318.23.

Salesforce Price Performance

CRM opened at $341.72 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $281.40 and its 200 day simple moving average is $265.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.04. Salesforce, Inc. has a 1 year low of $212.00 and a 1 year high of $348.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $326.68 billion, a PE ratio of 59.43, a P/E/G ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 1.29.

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

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 8th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 18th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 18th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.47%. Salesforce’s payout ratio is currently 27.83%.

Insider Transactions at Salesforce

In other news, COO Brian Millham sold 60,522 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total transaction of $18,156,600.00. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, COO Brian Millham sold 60,522 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total value of $18,156,600.00. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Parker Harris sold 3,970 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $296.74, for a total transaction of $1,178,057.80. Following the sale, the insider now owns 119,402 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $35,431,349.48. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 144,373 shares of company stock valued at $41,250,680. Corporate insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

About Salesforce

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.