8,556 Shares in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) Bought by Lecap Asset Management Ltd.

Lecap Asset Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 8,556 shares of the CRM provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,861,000. Salesforce makes up about 0.8% of Lecap Asset Management Ltd.’s holdings, making the stock its 27th biggest holding.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Veritas Asset Management LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $733,805,000. Jennison Associates LLC grew its holdings in Salesforce by 52.7% during the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 4,433,785 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,482,347,000 after buying an additional 1,530,572 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB lifted its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 1,219,254 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV boosted its position in shares of Salesforce by 171.2% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,634,834 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $447,470,000 after acquiring an additional 1,032,068 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Salesforce by 23,664.2% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,002,848 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $274,490,000 after acquiring an additional 998,628 shares in the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $405.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $415.00 target price (up from $385.00) on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Guggenheim downgraded Salesforce from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $247.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Northland Securities reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $440.00 target price (up from $400.00) on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price target on shares of Salesforce from $315.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, thirty-one have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $377.63.

Insider Transactions at Salesforce

In other Salesforce news, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 436 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $332.28, for a total value of $144,874.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 7,057 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,344,899.96. This trade represents a 5.82 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Amy E. Weaver sold 6,221 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $343.00, for a total transaction of $2,133,803.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 53,861 shares in the company, valued at $18,474,323. This represents a 10.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,111,420 shares of company stock valued at $384,366,700 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Stock Down 5.0 %

Shares of CRM opened at $330.52 on Friday. Salesforce, Inc. has a 12-month low of $212.00 and a 12-month high of $369.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The company has a market capitalization of $316.31 billion, a PE ratio of 54.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 1.31. The business’s 50 day moving average is $339.04 and its 200 day moving average is $299.65.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last released its 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). The company had revenue of $9.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.35 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 12.34% and a net margin of 15.96%. Salesforce’s quarterly revenue was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.62 EPS. Research analysts expect that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 18th were issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 18th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.48%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.32%.

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.