Griffin Asset Management Inc. Purchases New Holdings in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Griffin Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 686 shares of the CRM provider’s stock, valued at approximately $229,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Salesforce by 1.8% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 49,007,404 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $13,432,855,000 after acquiring an additional 864,193 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Salesforce by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,780,318 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $5,395,132,000 after purchasing an additional 257,501 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 12,276,551 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $3,360,215,000 after purchasing an additional 314,530 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 5,964,702 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,632,599,000 after buying an additional 57,825 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Salesforce by 1.7% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,912,854 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,618,407,000 after buying an additional 96,381 shares during the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CRM has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Salesforce from $340.00 to $430.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Salesforce from $368.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Salesforce from $390.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Needham & Company LLC boosted their target price on Salesforce from $375.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on shares of Salesforce from $415.00 to $425.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, thirty-one have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $377.63.

Insider Activity

In other Salesforce news, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $290.23, for a total value of $145,115.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 6,506 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,888,236.38. This represents a 7.14 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Parker Harris sold 652 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $332.28, for a total value of $216,646.56. Following the sale, the insider now owns 121,467 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $40,361,054.76. This represents a 0.53 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,109,169 shares of company stock valued at $383,432,020 over the last ninety days. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Salesforce Stock Performance

Shares of CRM opened at $360.00 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $344.52 billion, a PE ratio of 59.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 1.30. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $337.23 and a 200-day moving average of $295.28. Salesforce, Inc. has a one year low of $212.00 and a one year 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.

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

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Shareholders 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 0.44%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio 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.