Procyon Advisors LLC Increases Position in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Procyon Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 2.0% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 30,064 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 583 shares during the period. Procyon Advisors LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $7,911,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Fairfield Bush & CO. lifted its stake in Salesforce by 8.7% in the first quarter. Fairfield Bush & CO. now owns 4,468 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $949,000 after purchasing an additional 357 shares during the last quarter. Roundview Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 18.8% during the first quarter. Roundview Capital LLC now owns 24,037 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $5,104,000 after buying an additional 3,809 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 42.8% in the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 621 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $132,000 after buying an additional 186 shares in the last quarter. Ergoteles LLC bought a new stake in Salesforce during the 1st quarter worth approximately $455,000. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its stake in Salesforce by 21.3% in the 1st quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 860,950 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $182,797,000 after purchasing an additional 151,440 shares in the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Salesforce Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of Salesforce stock traded up $1.28 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $302.66. The company had a trading volume of 597,098 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,692,840. Salesforce, Inc. has a 52-week low of $187.31 and a 52-week high of $318.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $293.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 71.46, a P/E/G ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a 50 day moving average of $293.59 and a 200 day moving average of $251.75.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The CRM provider reported $1.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.72 by $0.06. Salesforce had a return on equity of 10.42% and a net margin of 11.87%. The firm had revenue of $9.29 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.22 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.01 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 14th will be given a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 13th. Salesforce’s payout ratio is 9.52%.

Insider Transactions at Salesforce

In other Salesforce news, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 216 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $278.71, for a total transaction of $60,201.36. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 2,869 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $799,618.99. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Salesforce news, insider Srinivas Tallapragada sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $258.58, for a total transaction of $2,585,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 59,861 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,478,857.38. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 216 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $278.71, for a total value of $60,201.36. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 2,869 shares in the company, valued at $799,618.99. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 898,507 shares of company stock valued at $255,293,063 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 3.70% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on CRM. StockNews.com cut shares of Salesforce from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Salesforce from $285.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on shares of Salesforce from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Citigroup upped their target price on Salesforce from $265.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 26th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price objective on Salesforce from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Salesforce has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $304.32.

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.