Flputnam Investment Management Co. Has $17.58 Million Holdings in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Flputnam Investment Management Co. increased its holdings in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 12.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 66,816 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,414 shares during the period. Flputnam Investment Management Co.’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $17,582,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in CRM. State Street Corp increased its stake in Salesforce by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 45,509,345 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $9,091,832,000 after buying an additional 391,648 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its stake in Salesforce by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 19,003,836 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,519,719,000 after buying an additional 149,012 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in Salesforce by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 11,195,108 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,270,144,000 after buying an additional 121,436 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Salesforce in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,420,381,000. Finally, Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in Salesforce by 125,717.4% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 10,260,412 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,360,428,000 after buying an additional 10,252,257 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $269.77, for a total value of $4,046,550.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 13,791,166 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,720,442,851.82. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $269.77, for a total value of $4,046,550.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 13,791,166 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,720,442,851.82. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Srinivas Tallapragada sold 2,890 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction on Friday, March 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.32, for a total transaction of $893,934.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 60,416 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,687,877.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 907,375 shares of company stock worth $262,519,346 in the last 90 days. 3.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have commented on CRM shares. TheStreet upgraded shares of Salesforce from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Friday, January 19th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Salesforce from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $290.00 to $350.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 21st. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and set a $350.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. BMO Capital Markets raised 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. Finally, JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $342.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Monday. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $306.26.

Salesforce Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CRM traded down $21.42 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $272.90. 18,309,729 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,700,284. Salesforce, Inc. has a 52 week low of $190.57 and a 52 week high of $318.71. The company has a quick ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $264.71 billion, a PE ratio of 65.38, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.28. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $298.82 and its 200 day moving average price is $259.77.

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

Salesforce Announces Dividend

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

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.