Aspire Capital Advisors LLC Has $607,000 Position in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Aspire Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 3.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,815 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the quarter. Aspire Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $607,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of CRM. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 1.8% during 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 purchasing an additional 864,193 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings 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 worth $5,395,132,000 after acquiring an additional 257,501 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Salesforce by 2.6% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 12,276,551 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $3,360,215,000 after acquiring an additional 314,530 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 1.0% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 5,964,702 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,632,599,000 after purchasing an additional 57,825 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Salesforce by 1.7% in 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 purchasing an additional 96,381 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. KeyCorp raised Salesforce from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $440.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Needham & Company LLC upped their target price on shares of Salesforce from $375.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Salesforce from $340.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Erste Group Bank upgraded Salesforce from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Scotiabank upped their price target on Salesforce from $425.00 to $440.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, thirty-one have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $377.63.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $290.23, for a total value of $145,115.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 6,506 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,888,236.38. This represents a 7.14 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Parker Harris sold 3,970 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $296.74, for a total transaction of $1,178,057.80. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 119,402 shares in the company, valued at approximately $35,431,349.48. The trade was a 3.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,109,169 shares of company stock valued at $383,432,020 over the last three months. 3.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Salesforce Trading Up 1.7 %

Shares of Salesforce stock opened at $353.08 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $336.73 and a 200-day moving average price of $294.60. Salesforce, Inc. has a twelve month low of $212.00 and a twelve month high of $369.00. The firm has a market cap of $337.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 58.53, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current 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). The firm had revenue of $9.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.35 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 15.96% and a return on equity of 12.34%. The firm’s revenue was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.62 earnings per share. Equities research 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 issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, December 18th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.45%. Salesforce’s payout ratio 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.