Marshall Financial Group LLC Buys Shares of 861 Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Marshall Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 861 shares of the CRM provider’s stock, valued at approximately $259,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 3.5% in the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 11,824 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $2,398,000 after purchasing an additional 401 shares during the period. Legacy Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 5.4% in the third quarter. Legacy Advisors LLC now owns 3,024 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $613,000 after purchasing an additional 154 shares during the period. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 4.2% in the third quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC now owns 11,065 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $2,244,000 after purchasing an additional 444 shares during the period. Jericho Capital Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of Salesforce in the third quarter worth $68,742,000. Finally, Sei Investments Co. increased its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 2.2% in the third quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 1,112,424 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $225,579,000 after purchasing an additional 24,177 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CRM has been the subject of several research reports. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Salesforce from $323.00 to $260.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on shares of Salesforce from $350.00 to $300.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Salesforce from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. KeyCorp initiated coverage on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. They issued a “sector weight” rating for the company. Finally, Piper Sandler cut their target price on shares of Salesforce from $300.00 to $250.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, twenty-five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $292.79.

Insider Transactions at Salesforce

In other news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction on Monday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $302.03, for a total transaction of $4,530,450.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 12,936,166 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,907,110,216.98. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, insider Srinivas Tallapragada sold 942 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.32, for a total transaction of $228,265.44. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 22,154 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,368,357.28. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $302.03, for a total transaction of $4,530,450.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 12,936,166 shares in the company, valued at $3,907,110,216.98. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 484,152 shares of company stock worth $131,779,561 in the last 90 days. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Salesforce Trading Up 1.9 %

Shares of CRM stock opened at $260.95 on Friday. Salesforce, Inc. has a 12-month low of $193.68 and a 12-month high of $318.71. 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 firm’s 50 day moving average is $258.48 and its 200 day moving average is $276.21. The stock has a market capitalization of $252.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.93, a P/E/G ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 1.29.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 29th. The CRM provider reported $2.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.38 by $0.06. Salesforce had a net margin of 15.30% and a return on equity of 11.57%. The company had revenue of $9.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.15 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.15 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.7% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 25th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, July 9th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is presently 7.19%.

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.