Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI Increases Position in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI lifted its holdings in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 51.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 4,513 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,524 shares during the quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $1,188,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $276.65, for a total value of $4,149,750.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 12,782,327 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,536,230,764.55. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $276.65, for a total transaction of $4,149,750.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 12,782,327 shares in the company, valued at $3,536,230,764.55. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Brian Millham sold 4,204 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $278.00, for a total transaction of $1,168,712.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 620,793 shares of company stock worth $182,177,918 in the last ninety days. 3.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Salesforce Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE CRM opened at $274.29 on Friday. 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 stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $295.97 and a 200-day simple moving average of $264.30. The company has a market cap of $266.06 billion, a PE ratio of 65.31, a P/E/G ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 1.28. Salesforce, Inc. has a 12-month low of $190.76 and a 12-month high of $318.71.

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

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 14th were issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 13th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.58%. Salesforce’s payout ratio is currently 9.52%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently weighed in on CRM. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Salesforce from $325.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Salesforce from $285.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. TheStreet raised Salesforce from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Friday, January 19th. Wedbush boosted their price objective on Salesforce from $280.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $345.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a report on Monday, April 15th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $310.61.

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.