Suncoast Equity Management Acquires New Stake in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Suncoast Equity Management acquired a new stake in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 52,207 shares of the CRM provider’s stock, valued at approximately $13,738,000. Salesforce comprises approximately 1.8% of Suncoast Equity Management’s portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest holding.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. SVB Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 12.2% during the fourth quarter. SVB Wealth LLC now owns 21,869 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $5,755,000 after buying an additional 2,372 shares in the last quarter. First American Trust FSB acquired a new stake in Salesforce during the fourth quarter valued at $290,000. LifePlan Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Salesforce during the fourth quarter valued at $1,830,000. VELA Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Salesforce by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. VELA Investment Management LLC now owns 5,183 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,364,000 after purchasing an additional 143 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Donaldson Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Salesforce by 9.6% during the fourth quarter. Donaldson Capital Management LLC now owns 6,545 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,722,000 after purchasing an additional 573 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Argus lifted their price objective on Salesforce from $290.00 to $354.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $350.00 price target (up previously from $325.00) on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Friday. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $360.00 price target (up previously from $275.00) on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Salesforce from $290.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, TheStreet upgraded Salesforce from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Friday, January 19th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $307.87.

Salesforce Stock Performance

NYSE:CRM traded up $5.55 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $278.45. The stock had a trading volume of 3,312,274 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,666,982. Salesforce, Inc. has a twelve month low of $190.57 and a twelve month high of $318.71. The stock has a market cap of $270.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 65.44, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.28. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $298.52 and its 200 day simple moving average is $260.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.09.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The CRM provider reported $1.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.72 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $9.29 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.22 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 11.87% and a return on equity of 10.42%. Salesforce’s revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.01 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 13th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.57%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.52%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 216 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $278.71, for a total value of $60,201.36. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 2,869 shares in the company, valued at $799,618.99. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $274.01, for a total value of $4,110,150.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,761,166 shares in the company, valued at $3,770,697,095.66. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 216 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred 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 $799,618.99. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 897,375 shares of company stock worth $260,206,096 over the last three months. Insiders own 3.70% of the company’s stock.

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.