Certuity LLC Buys 726 Shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Certuity LLC increased its stake in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 10.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,753 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 726 shares during the quarter. Certuity LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $2,040,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc. boosted its stake in Salesforce by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc. now owns 7,805 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $2,054,000 after buying an additional 264 shares in the last quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. boosted its stake in Salesforce by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. now owns 10,873 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $2,861,000 after buying an additional 110 shares in the last quarter. Field & Main Bank boosted its stake in Salesforce by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Field & Main Bank now owns 8,022 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $2,111,000 after buying an additional 225 shares in the last quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC boosted its stake in Salesforce by 25.7% during the fourth quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 59,494 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $15,655,000 after buying an additional 12,171 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,439,717 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $378,847,000 after purchasing an additional 54,809 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. KeyCorp initiated coverage on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. They issued a “sector weight” rating on the stock. Canaccord Genuity Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $350.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. Wolfe Research reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $365.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $300.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Salesforce from $325.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $310.61.

Salesforce Stock Performance

CRM stock traded down $5.79 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $269.95. 2,743,642 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,600,876. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $261.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 65.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $295.69 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $265.20. Salesforce, Inc. has a 12 month low of $190.76 and a 12 month high of $318.71.

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 firm had revenue of $9.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.22 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 10.42% and a net margin of 11.87%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.01 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared 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 dividend yield of 0.59%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 13th. Salesforce’s payout ratio is currently 9.52%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.95, for a total value of $4,244,250.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 13,626,166 shares in the company, valued at $3,855,523,669.70. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.95, for a total value of $4,244,250.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 13,626,166 shares in the company, valued at $3,855,523,669.70. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Brian Millham sold 4,204 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $278.00, for a total value of $1,168,712.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 610,793 shares of company stock worth $179,197,018. Company insiders own 3.70% of the company’s stock.

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.