White Pine Capital LLC Grows Position in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

White Pine Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 6.5% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 2,212 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 135 shares during the period. White Pine Capital LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $740,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in Salesforce by 15.0% in the fourth quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 36,473 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $12,194,000 after buying an additional 4,752 shares in the last quarter. Nabity Jensen Investment Management Inc purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce in the 3rd quarter valued at $1,215,000. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC raised its position 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 acquiring an additional 6,938 shares in the last quarter. Aljian Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Salesforce by 16.1% in the 3rd quarter. Aljian Capital Management LLC now owns 13,258 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $3,629,000 after acquiring an additional 1,834 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AIA Group Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 8.9% during the 3rd quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 24,028 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $6,577,000 after purchasing an additional 1,962 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CRM has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of Salesforce from $425.00 to $440.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $405.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. DA Davidson raised their target price on shares of Salesforce from $250.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. UBS Group upped their price target on Salesforce from $275.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Bank of America raised their price objective on Salesforce from $390.00 to $440.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, thirty-one have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $377.63.

Insider Activity at Salesforce

In related news, insider Miguel Milano sold 719 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $342.81, for a total value of $246,480.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 4,659 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,597,151.79. This represents a 13.37 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Brian Millham sold 14,808 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $338.95, for a total transaction of $5,019,171.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 1,111,420 shares of company stock valued at $384,366,700. 3.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Salesforce Stock Performance

NYSE CRM opened at $330.19 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $315.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.31, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 1.31. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $337.91 and a 200 day moving average of $302.13. 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, Inc. has a twelve month low of $212.00 and a twelve month high of $369.00.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced its 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 business had revenue of $9.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.35 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 12.34% and a net margin of 15.96%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.62 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared 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. 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 presently 26.32%.

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.