Fort Sheridan Advisors LLC Increases Holdings in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Fort Sheridan Advisors LLC lifted its position in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 36.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,230 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 601 shares during the period. Fort Sheridan Advisors LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $598,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of CRM. Norges Bank purchased a new stake 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 boosted 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 boosted 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. boosted 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 boosted 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.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Srinivas Tallapragada sold 1,269 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $262.35, for a total transaction of $332,922.15. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 42,678 shares in the company, valued at $11,196,573.30. This trade represents a 2.89% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Marc Benioff sold 2,250 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $271.69, for a total value of $611,302.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 11,862,457 shares in the company, valued at $3,222,910,942.33. This trade represents a 0.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 35,284 shares of company stock worth $9,444,537. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Salesforce Stock Performance

Shares of CRM opened at $258.23 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $272.09 and a two-hundred day moving average of $289.24. Salesforce Inc. has a one year low of $230.00 and a one year 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 stock has a market cap of $246.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.41, a P/E/G ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.36.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 28th. The CRM provider reported $2.58 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.44 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict 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. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 18th were paid a dividend of $0.416 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 18th. This represents a $1.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.64%. Salesforce’s payout ratio is currently 25.98%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have weighed in on CRM shares. Cantor Fitzgerald lowered Salesforce from an “overweight” rating to a “cautious” rating in a report on Thursday. Northland Securities lowered their target price on Salesforce from $423.00 to $396.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 29th. Scotiabank lowered their target price on Salesforce from $400.00 to $345.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 17th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on Salesforce from $425.00 to $375.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 31st. Finally, DA Davidson restated an “underperform” rating and set a $200.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, twenty-seven have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $348.16.

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.