Sheets Smith Wealth Management Increases Stake in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Sheets Smith Wealth Management lifted its stake in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 20.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,480 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 427 shares during the period. Sheets Smith Wealth Management’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $653,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Cerity Partners LLC grew its position in Salesforce by 1,254.7% in the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 3,483,670 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $916,693,000 after acquiring an additional 3,226,512 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Salesforce by 23,653.7% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,406,220 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $370,033,000 after purchasing an additional 1,400,300 shares in the last quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Salesforce by 47.5% in the third quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC now owns 2,499,630 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $506,875,000 after purchasing an additional 804,634 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its position in Salesforce by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 14,921,042 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $3,926,323,000 after buying an additional 752,566 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in shares of Salesforce by 330.0% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 935,885 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $189,779,000 after buying an additional 718,245 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Mizuho reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $345.00 target price (up from $325.00) on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Citigroup boosted their target price on Salesforce from $265.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 26th. StockNews.com lowered Salesforce from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Salesforce from $285.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Salesforce from $325.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Salesforce currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $310.61.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $288.30, for a total value of $4,324,500.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 13,551,166 shares in the company, valued at $3,906,801,157.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, insider Parker Harris sold 4,200 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.93, for a total transaction of $1,137,906.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 115,762 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,363,398.66. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $288.30, for a total transaction of $4,324,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 13,551,166 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,906,801,157.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 604,993 shares of company stock worth $177,116,174 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 3.70% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of CRM stock traded up $1.17 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $274.83. The stock had a trading volume of 2,241,326 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,531,952. The firm has a market capitalization of $266.04 billion, a PE ratio of 65.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.30. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $294.23 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $267.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. Salesforce, Inc. has a 52-week low of $193.68 and a 52-week high of $318.71.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The CRM provider reported $1.78 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.72 by $0.06. Salesforce had a net margin of 11.87% and a return on equity of 10.42%. The firm had revenue of $9.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.22 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.01 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 13th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.58%. Salesforce’s payout ratio is presently 9.52%.

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.