Buffington Mohr McNeal Takes $215,000 Position in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Buffington Mohr McNeal purchased a new position in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund purchased 642 shares of the CRM provider’s stock, valued at approximately $215,000.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of CRM. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Salesforce by 15.0% during the fourth quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 36,473 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $12,194,000 after purchasing an additional 4,752 shares in the last quarter. Nabity Jensen Investment Management Inc bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,215,000. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Salesforce by 13.6% in the 3rd quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 58,036 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $15,885,000 after buying an additional 6,938 shares during the last quarter. Aljian Capital Management LLC increased its position in Salesforce by 16.1% during the 3rd quarter. Aljian Capital Management LLC now owns 13,258 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $3,629,000 after buying an additional 1,834 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AIA Group Ltd boosted its holdings in Salesforce by 8.9% in the third quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 24,028 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $6,577,000 after acquiring an additional 1,962 shares in the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $290.23, for a total transaction of $145,115.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 6,506 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,888,236.38. This trade represents a 7.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Parker Harris sold 3,970 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $296.74, for a total value of $1,178,057.80. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 119,402 shares in the company, valued at approximately $35,431,349.48. The trade was a 3.22 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,109,169 shares of company stock worth $383,432,020 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Trading Up 4.0 %

NYSE CRM opened at $347.26 on Tuesday. Salesforce, Inc. has a 12 month low of $212.00 and a 12 month high of $369.00. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $336.73 and its 200-day moving average price is $294.60. The stock has a market cap of $332.33 billion, a PE ratio of 57.12, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, December 3rd. The CRM provider reported $2.41 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.44 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $9.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.35 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 15.96% and a return on equity of 12.34%. The business’s revenue was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.62 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 18th were paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, December 18th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.32%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $390.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Salesforce from $360.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $405.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $340.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on Salesforce from $275.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, thirty-one have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $377.63.

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.