Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) Shares Bought by Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S.

Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. lifted its position in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 130.6% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 44,515 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 25,215 shares during the quarter. Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S.’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $11,946,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in CRM. Seven Mile Advisory increased its stake in shares of Salesforce by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Seven Mile Advisory now owns 1,762 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $589,000 after acquiring an additional 39 shares during the period. Liberty One Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 1.2% in the first quarter. Liberty One Investment Management LLC now owns 3,165 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $849,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. First Command Advisory Services Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 7.3% during the first quarter. First Command Advisory Services Inc. now owns 572 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $154,000 after buying an additional 39 shares during the period. Mendel Money Management lifted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 3.6% during the first quarter. Mendel Money Management now owns 1,112 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $298,000 after buying an additional 39 shares during the period. Finally, Clarity Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Salesforce by 2.3% during the first quarter. Clarity Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,760 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $472,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Stock Up 0.5%

CRM stock opened at $269.11 on Monday. 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 capitalization of $257.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.11, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.36. Salesforce Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $230.00 and a fifty-two week high of $369.00. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $268.07 and a 200-day moving average of $283.68.

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

Salesforce Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 10th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 18th were issued 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 0.62%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is 25.98%.

Insider Transactions at Salesforce

In other Salesforce news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 2,250 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $271.69, for a total value of $611,302.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 11,862,457 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,222,910,942.33. The trade was a 0.02% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Srinivas Tallapragada sold 6,697 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.00, for a total value of $1,975,615.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 41,422 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,219,490. The trade was a 13.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 33,479 shares of company stock worth $9,091,796. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $340.00 to $385.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. Stephens decreased their price target on shares of Salesforce from $311.00 to $309.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 30th. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $430.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Westpark Capital restated a “buy” rating and set a $320.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. Finally, Erste Group Bank downgraded shares of Salesforce from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, June 5th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, twenty-seven have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Salesforce has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $348.16.

About Salesforce

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.