Holderness Investments Co. Increases Stock Position in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Holderness Investments Co. boosted its stake in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 10.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,911 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 267 shares during the period. Holderness Investments Co.’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $781,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of CRM. Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel Ltd. increased its stake in Salesforce by 43.0% in the first quarter. Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel Ltd. now owns 104,834 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $28,133,000 after purchasing an additional 31,537 shares during the period. Financial Network Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Salesforce by 136.9% in the first quarter. Financial Network Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 154 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares during the period. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in Salesforce by 1.7% in the first quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 102,368 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $27,471,000 after purchasing an additional 1,673 shares during the period. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd increased its stake in Salesforce by 114.1% in the first quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 1,582 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $425,000 after purchasing an additional 843 shares during the period. Finally, S Bank Fund Management Ltd acquired a new position in Salesforce in the first quarter valued at $5,895,000. 80.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Salesforce

In other news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 2,250 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $260.30, for a total value of $585,675.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 11,955,566 shares in the company, valued at $3,112,033,829.80. The trade was a 0.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders sold a total of 44,282 shares of company stock valued at $11,554,754 in the last three months. 3.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Salesforce Price Performance

CRM opened at $237.14 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $261.72 and its 200 day simple moving average is $277.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 1.07. Salesforce Inc. has a 1 year low of $226.48 and a 1 year high of $369.00. The firm has a market cap of $226.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.11, a PEG ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.37.

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

Salesforce Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 10th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 18th were paid a $0.416 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 18th. This represents a $1.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Salesforce’s payout ratio is currently 25.98%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on CRM shares. UBS Group set a $404.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 18th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $375.00 to $325.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Cantor Fitzgerald lowered shares of Salesforce from an “overweight” rating to a “cautious” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Guggenheim upgraded shares of Salesforce from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $404.00 price target (up from $393.00) on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, twenty-seven have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Salesforce currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $346.84.

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.