Rooted Wealth Advisors Inc. Grows Stake in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Rooted Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 34.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 992 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after buying an additional 256 shares during the quarter. Rooted Wealth Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $322,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. RBA Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Salesforce by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. RBA Wealth Management LLC now owns 16,172 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $4,426,000 after purchasing an additional 574 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning raised its position in shares of Salesforce by 8.0% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 233,743 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $63,978,000 after buying an additional 17,350 shares during the last quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC lifted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 1.3% in the third quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 3,235 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $885,000 after buying an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. AAFMAA Wealth Management & Trust LLC boosted its position in Salesforce by 2.3% during the third quarter. AAFMAA Wealth Management & Trust LLC now owns 8,119 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $2,222,000 after acquiring an additional 186 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Salesforce by 9.5% during the 3rd quarter. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,927 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $527,000 after acquiring an additional 167 shares in 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 have weighed in on CRM shares. Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Salesforce from $425.00 to $440.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Salesforce from $360.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on Salesforce from $400.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. KeyCorp upgraded Salesforce from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $440.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $425.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. One investment 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $377.63.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $335.94, for a total value of $167,970.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 6,557 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,202,758.58. This represents a 7.09 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Amy E. Weaver sold 6,221 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $329.88, for a total transaction of $2,052,183.48. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 45,861 shares in the company, valued at $15,128,626.68. This represents a 11.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 1,111,420 shares of company stock worth $384,366,700. Corporate insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Price Performance

CRM stock opened at $330.19 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $337.91 and its two-hundred day moving average is $302.13. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $315.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.31, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 1.31. Salesforce, Inc. has a 1 year low of $212.00 and a 1 year high of $369.00.

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

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 18th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date 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 currently 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.