Lazari Capital Management Inc. Purchases 63 Shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Lazari Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 1.2% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 5,506 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after buying an additional 63 shares during the period. Salesforce accounts for 0.7% of Lazari Capital Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 29th biggest position. Lazari Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $1,841,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in CRM. Veritas Asset Management LLP bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the third quarter valued at about $733,805,000. Swedbank AB raised its holdings in Salesforce by 46.7% in the fourth quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 3,829,773 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,280,408,000 after purchasing an additional 1,219,254 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV raised its holdings in Salesforce by 171.2% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,634,834 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $447,470,000 after purchasing an additional 1,032,068 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Salesforce by 23,664.2% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,002,848 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $274,490,000 after purchasing an additional 998,628 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp raised its holdings in Salesforce by 1.8% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 49,007,404 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $13,432,855,000 after purchasing an additional 864,193 shares in the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on CRM. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Salesforce from $368.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Salesforce from $275.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Salesforce from $300.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Guggenheim lowered Salesforce from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $247.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Salesforce from $340.00 to $430.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, thirty-one have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $377.63.

Salesforce Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE:CRM opened at $341.80 on Monday. Salesforce, Inc. has a 1 year low of $212.00 and a 1 year high of $369.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 1.11. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $338.67 and its 200-day moving average price is $297.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $327.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 56.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 1.31.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, December 3rd. The CRM provider reported $2.41 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.44 by ($0.03). Salesforce had a return on equity of 12.34% and a net margin of 15.96%. The company had revenue of $9.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.35 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.62 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 18th. Salesforce’s payout ratio is 26.32%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 436 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $332.28, for a total transaction of $144,874.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 7,057 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,344,899.96. This trade represents a 5.82 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider R David Schmaier sold 1,785 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $344.00, for a total value of $614,040.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 19,116 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,575,904. The trade was a 8.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,108,669 shares of company stock valued at $383,286,905. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.