Donaldson Capital Management LLC Boosts Holdings in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Donaldson Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 9.6% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 6,545 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after buying an additional 573 shares during the period. Donaldson Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $1,722,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bear Mountain Capital Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Pacifica Partners Inc. raised its stake in shares of Salesforce by 333.3% during the fourth quarter. Pacifica Partners Inc. now owns 130 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. BKM Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Salesforce by 30.4% during the fourth quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 270 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 63 shares during the period. Finally, Live Oak Investment Partners purchased a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Price Performance

CRM stock traded down $21.42 during trading on Monday, hitting $272.90. The company had a trading volume of 18,353,955 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,700,898. The firm has a market capitalization of $264.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 65.38, a P/E/G ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.28. The business has a 50 day moving average of $298.82 and a 200 day moving average of $259.77. Salesforce, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $190.57 and a fifty-two week high of $318.71. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

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

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 14th were issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.59%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 13th. Salesforce’s payout ratio is currently 9.52%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CRM has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Salesforce from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Salesforce from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $315.00 price target for the company in a research note on Monday, December 18th. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $342.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Monday. Argus lifted their price target on shares of Salesforce from $290.00 to $354.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Salesforce from $325.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $306.26.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Salesforce news, CFO Amy E. Weaver sold 7,074 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $284.00, for a total value of $2,009,016.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 38,993 shares in the company, valued at $11,074,012. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Salesforce news, CFO Amy E. Weaver sold 7,074 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $284.00, for a total value of $2,009,016.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 38,993 shares in the company, valued at $11,074,012. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $269.77, for a total transaction of $4,046,550.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 13,791,166 shares in the company, valued at $3,720,442,851.82. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 907,375 shares of company stock worth $262,519,346. 3.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Salesforce 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.