OneAscent Family Office LLC Takes $221,000 Position in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

OneAscent Family Office LLC acquired a new stake in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 821 shares of the CRM provider’s stock, valued at approximately $221,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,599,867,000. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main increased its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 926.4% in the fourth quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 4,256,211 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,422,979,000 after purchasing an additional 3,841,521 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 30,456.9% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,801,588 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,020,194,000 after purchasing an additional 3,789,147 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 42.5% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 7,791,015 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,604,770,000 after purchasing an additional 2,325,156 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 18.3% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 11,224,927 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $3,752,830,000 after purchasing an additional 1,736,667 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Stock Up 1.0%

NYSE:CRM opened at $262.40 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $270.45 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $286.17. Salesforce Inc. has a 52-week low of $230.00 and a 52-week high of $369.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.07. The company has a market cap of $250.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.06, a P/E/G ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 1.36.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 28th. The CRM provider reported $2.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.55 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $9.83 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.74 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 12.94% and a net margin of 16.08%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.44 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 10th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 18th were issued a $0.416 dividend. This represents a $1.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 18th. Salesforce’s payout ratio is 25.98%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Salesforce from $320.00 to $295.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 30th. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $430.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $404.00 price objective (up from $393.00) on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Salesforce from $255.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. Finally, Erste Group Bank downgraded Salesforce from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 5th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, twenty-seven have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $348.16.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Salesforce news, insider R David Schmaier sold 4,586 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $253.66, for a total transaction of $1,163,284.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 33,273 shares in the company, valued at $8,440,029.18. The trade was a 12.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Srinivas Tallapragada sold 6,697 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $295.00, for a total transaction of $1,975,615.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 41,422 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,219,490. This represents a 13.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 33,819 shares of company stock worth $9,111,823. Company insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

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.