Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) Shares Purchased by Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund increased its holdings in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 2.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 51,286 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,354 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $17,146,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 21.6% during the 4th quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 677,841 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $226,623,000 after acquiring an additional 120,428 shares during the period. EdgeRock Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Salesforce by 16.5% in the 4th quarter. EdgeRock Capital LLC now owns 1,102 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $368,000 after buying an additional 156 shares during the last quarter. Transcendent Capital Group LLC boosted its holdings in Salesforce by 525.9% in the 4th quarter. Transcendent Capital Group LLC now owns 1,496 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $500,000 after buying an additional 1,257 shares during the last quarter. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Salesforce by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC now owns 24,071 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $8,048,000 after buying an additional 771 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Millington Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Salesforce by 16.3% in the 4th quarter. Millington Financial Advisors LLC now owns 5,618 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,906,000 after buying an additional 789 shares during the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Salesforce

In other Salesforce news, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 436 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $332.28, for a total value of $144,874.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 7,057 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,344,899.96. The trade was a 5.82 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director G Mason Morfit sold 722,300 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $346.11, for a total transaction of $249,995,253.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 3,192,009 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,104,786,234.99. The trade was a 18.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,102,572 shares of company stock valued at $381,283,706 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on CRM shares. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Salesforce from $360.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Guggenheim cut Salesforce from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $247.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Monday, January 6th. Citigroup boosted their target price on Salesforce from $368.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. DA Davidson boosted their target price on Salesforce from $250.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Salesforce from $340.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, thirty-two have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $375.53.

Salesforce Price Performance

CRM stock opened at $308.27 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $332.36 and a 200-day moving average of $306.60. Salesforce, Inc. has a 12-month low of $212.00 and a 12-month high of $369.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The company has a market cap of $295.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.70, a PEG ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.31.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, December 3rd. The CRM provider reported $2.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.44 by ($0.03). Salesforce had a net margin of 15.96% and a return on equity of 12.34%. The company had revenue of $9.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.35 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.62 earnings per share. Salesforce’s revenue was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 18th were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 18th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.52%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.32%.

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.