Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) Shares Purchased by Essex Financial Services Inc.

Essex Financial Services Inc. boosted its position in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 2.8% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 3,358 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 90 shares during the period. Essex Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $1,123,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Veritas Asset Management LLP acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce in the third quarter valued at approximately $733,805,000. Jennison Associates LLC grew its stake in shares of Salesforce by 52.7% in the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 4,433,785 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,482,347,000 after acquiring an additional 1,530,572 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 46.7% during the fourth quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 3,829,773 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,280,408,000 after acquiring an additional 1,219,254 shares during the period. KBC Group NV raised its stake 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 in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of 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 valued at $274,490,000 after acquiring an additional 998,628 shares in the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on CRM shares. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $400.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Salesforce from $300.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Salesforce from $415.00 to $425.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Cfra set a $343.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $275.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, thirty-one have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $377.63.

Salesforce Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of CRM stock opened at $324.50 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $310.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 1.31. 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 business’s 50 day moving average is $338.89 and its two-hundred day moving average is $301.53. Salesforce, Inc. has a twelve month low of $212.00 and a twelve month high of $369.00.

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

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 18th were issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 18th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.32%.

Insider Activity at Salesforce

In other Salesforce news, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 436 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 23rd. The stock was 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 owns 7,057 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,344,899.96. This represents a 5.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Marc Benioff sold 317,105 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $346.78, for a total transaction of $109,965,671.90. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 12,162,457 shares in the company, valued at $4,217,696,838.46. The trade was a 2.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,111,420 shares of company stock worth $384,366,700 over the last 90 days. Company 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.