Quadrant Capital Group LLC Increases Holdings in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Quadrant Capital Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 7.7% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 6,908 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 491 shares during the quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $1,818,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Apexium Financial LP grew its position in Salesforce by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Apexium Financial LP now owns 1,717 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $452,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft grew its position in Salesforce by 35.6% during the 4th quarter. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft now owns 108,474 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $28,530,000 after acquiring an additional 28,500 shares during the last quarter. Savvy Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Salesforce during the 4th quarter worth approximately $327,000. Guardian Capital Advisors LP bought a new position in Salesforce during the 4th quarter worth approximately $950,000. Finally, Barings LLC grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Barings LLC now owns 8,667 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $2,281,000 after buying an additional 227 shares during the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on CRM. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $350.00 price objective (up from $325.00) on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Salesforce from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $350.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Salesforce from $290.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on Salesforce from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Salesforce has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $310.61.

Insider Transactions at Salesforce

In other Salesforce news, COO Brian Millham sold 24,453 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $302.08, for a total transaction of $7,386,762.24. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Salesforce news, insider Srinivas Tallapragada sold 10,000 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $287.50, for a total value of $2,875,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 60,416 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,369,600. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Brian Millham sold 24,453 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $302.08, for a total transaction of $7,386,762.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 635,499 shares of company stock worth $184,795,784 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 3.70% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE CRM traded up $1.58 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $286.26. 2,132,681 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,362,266. The firm has a market capitalization of $277.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 68.13, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.30. Salesforce, Inc. has a one year low of $193.68 and a one year high of $318.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.09. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $289.53 and a two-hundred day moving average of $270.94.

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

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 13th. Salesforce’s payout ratio is 9.52%.

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.