Westbourne Investment Advisors Inc. Increases Position in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Westbourne Investment Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 4.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 21,757 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after buying an additional 885 shares during the period. Salesforce comprises about 2.3% of Westbourne Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 15th largest holding. Westbourne Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $5,725,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of CRM. West Oak Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 23.9% in the fourth quarter. West Oak Capital LLC now owns 725 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $197,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares in the last quarter. Cornell Pochily Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Salesforce by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Cornell Pochily Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 5,622 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,479,000 after buying an additional 70 shares during the period. Procyon Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Salesforce by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC now owns 30,064 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $7,911,000 after acquiring an additional 583 shares in the last quarter. First Pacific Financial increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 23.5% during the fourth quarter. First Pacific Financial now owns 7,462 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,964,000 after acquiring an additional 1,420 shares during the period. Finally, Courier Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Salesforce by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Courier Capital LLC now owns 12,802 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $3,369,000 after purchasing an additional 172 shares during the period. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Salesforce news, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 216 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $278.71, for a total transaction of $60,201.36. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 2,869 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $799,618.99. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.54, for a total transaction of $4,733,100.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 13,311,166 shares in the company, valued at $4,200,205,319.64. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 216 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $278.71, for a total transaction of $60,201.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 2,869 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $799,618.99. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 898,507 shares of company stock valued at $255,293,063 in the last 90 days. 3.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on CRM shares. Raymond James increased their price target on Salesforce from $280.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 30th. KeyCorp began coverage on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. They issued a “sector weight” rating for the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Salesforce from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. TheStreet raised Salesforce from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Friday, January 19th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on Salesforce from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Nine equities research 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, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $304.32.

Salesforce Stock Down 0.4 %

NYSE CRM traded down $1.07 on Thursday, reaching $300.31. The stock had a trading volume of 1,626,185 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,708,758. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The company has a market capitalization of $291.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 71.72, a P/E/G ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 1.28. Salesforce, Inc. has a 1 year low of $187.31 and a 1 year high of $318.71. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $293.59 and a 200 day moving average price of $251.75.

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

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 13th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.53%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.