Nelson Capital Management LLC Grows Position in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Nelson Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 1.8% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 8,182 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after buying an additional 143 shares during the period. Nelson Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $2,736,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Arlington Trust Co LLC increased its stake in Salesforce by 85.1% in the fourth quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC now owns 87 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the period. Compass Financial Services Inc bought a new position in shares of Salesforce in the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Asset Planning Inc purchased a new position in Salesforce in the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Collier Financial purchased a new stake in Salesforce in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Infrastructure Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in Salesforce in the 3rd quarter worth about $27,000. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Parker Harris sold 942 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $339.78, for a total value of $320,072.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 120,333 shares in the company, valued at $40,886,746.74. This trade represents a 0.78 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director G Mason Morfit sold 722,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $346.11, for a total transaction of $249,995,253.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 3,192,009 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,104,786,234.99. This represents a 18.45 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 1,102,572 shares of company stock worth $381,283,706. 3.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on CRM shares. Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $400.00 price target (up previously from $380.00) on shares of Salesforce in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $450.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Erste Group Bank raised shares of Salesforce from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $425.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Salesforce from $390.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, thirty-two have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $374.47.

Salesforce Stock Down 0.7 %

CRM stock opened at $306.02 on Wednesday. Salesforce, Inc. has a 12 month low of $212.00 and a 12 month 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 company has a market cap of $292.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $331.46 and a 200 day moving average price of $306.97.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, December 3rd. The CRM provider reported $2.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.44 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $9.44 billion for 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%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.62 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current 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 issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 18th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is presently 26.32%.

Salesforce Company 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.