Syon Capital LLC Increases Stock Position in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Syon Capital LLC raised its holdings in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 10.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 5,683 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 517 shares during the period. Syon Capital LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $1,495,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Bear Mountain Capital Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. acquired a new position in Salesforce during the fourth quarter worth approximately $31,000. Pacifica Partners Inc. increased its position in Salesforce by 333.3% during the fourth quarter. Pacifica Partners Inc. now owns 130 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. BKM Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the fourth quarter worth $34,000. Finally, AlphaMark Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 892.9% in the fourth quarter. AlphaMark Advisors LLC now owns 139 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on CRM. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $350.00 target price (up from $325.00) on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Friday, April 12th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $342.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a report on Monday, April 15th. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and set a $350.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Salesforce from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Salesforce from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 12th. Nine investment 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 company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Salesforce has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $310.61.

Insider Buying and Selling at Salesforce

In other Salesforce news, CFO Amy E. Weaver sold 4,096 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $273.15, for a total value of $1,118,822.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 49,290 shares in the company, valued at $13,463,563.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 2,425 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $273.15, for a total value of $662,388.75. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 5,856 shares in the company, valued at $1,599,566.40. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Amy E. Weaver sold 4,096 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $273.15, for a total transaction of $1,118,822.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 49,290 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,463,563.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 616,589 shares of company stock worth $181,071,306 over the last ninety days. 3.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Salesforce Stock Down 1.1 %

CRM traded down $3.05 on Thursday, reaching $273.14. 4,802,131 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,686,303. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $296.65 and its 200-day moving average price is $263.37. Salesforce, Inc. has a 52-week low of $190.57 and a 52-week high of $318.71. The company has a market cap of $264.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 64.14, a PEG ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 1.09.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 28th. The CRM provider reported $1.78 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.22 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.01 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 13th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.52%.

About Salesforce

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.