New Millennium Group LLC Grows Position in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

New Millennium Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 5.3% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 3,404 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 171 shares during the period. New Millennium Group LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $1,138,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Veritas Asset Management LLP purchased a new stake in Salesforce during the third quarter valued at approximately $733,805,000. 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 purchasing an additional 1,219,254 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV lifted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 171.2% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,634,834 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $447,470,000 after purchasing an additional 1,032,068 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Salesforce by 23,664.2% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,002,848 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $274,490,000 after purchasing an additional 998,628 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp increased its position in Salesforce by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 49,007,404 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $13,432,855,000 after buying an additional 864,193 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CRM has been the topic of several research analyst 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 research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their target price on Salesforce from $315.00 to $415.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Guggenheim cut Salesforce from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $247.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $415.00 price target (up previously from $385.00) on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their target price on Salesforce from $390.00 to $440.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. One research 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 given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $377.63.

Salesforce Stock Performance

Shares of CRM stock opened at $341.80 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $338.68 and a 200-day simple moving average of $296.75. Salesforce, Inc. has a 12-month low of $212.00 and a 12-month high of $369.00. The company has a market cap of $327.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 56.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 1.30. 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 (NYSE:CRM) last posted its 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). 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 firm posted $1.62 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.48 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 18th were given a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 18th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.32%.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Brian Millham sold 708 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $332.28, for a total transaction of $235,254.24. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 1,239 shares in the company, valued at approximately $411,694.92. The trade was a 36.36 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Parker Harris sold 3,970 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $296.74, for a total value of $1,178,057.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 119,402 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $35,431,349.48. This represents a 3.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,108,669 shares of company stock valued at $383,286,905 in the last 90 days. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.