First American Trust FSB Acquires New Shares in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

First American Trust FSB bought a new position in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm bought 1,101 shares of the CRM provider’s stock, valued at approximately $290,000.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. LifePlan Financial LLC bought a new stake in Salesforce during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,830,000. VELA Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Salesforce by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. VELA Investment Management LLC now owns 5,183 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,364,000 after purchasing an additional 143 shares during the last quarter. Donaldson Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 9.6% during the fourth quarter. Donaldson Capital Management LLC now owns 6,545 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,722,000 after purchasing an additional 573 shares in the last quarter. Flputnam Investment Management Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 12.5% during the 4th quarter. Flputnam Investment Management Co. now owns 66,816 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $17,582,000 after purchasing an additional 7,414 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Analysts LLC boosted its position in shares of Salesforce by 7.9% in the 4th quarter. Capital Analysts LLC now owns 14,001 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $3,684,000 after purchasing an additional 1,026 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Salesforce news, CFO Amy E. Weaver sold 7,074 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $284.00, for a total value of $2,009,016.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 38,993 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,074,012. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Salesforce news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $274.01, for a total value of $4,110,150.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 13,761,166 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,770,697,095.66. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Amy E. Weaver sold 7,074 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $284.00, for a total value of $2,009,016.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 38,993 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,074,012. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 897,375 shares of company stock worth $260,206,096. 3.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Salesforce Price Performance

NYSE:CRM traded up $2.87 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $275.77. 2,420,293 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,652,357. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $298.52 and its 200-day moving average is $260.26. Salesforce, Inc. has a twelve month low of $190.57 and a twelve month high of $318.71. The firm has a market cap of $267.50 billion, a PE ratio of 65.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

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

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 13th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.52%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CRM has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Wolfe Research reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $365.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Tuesday. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $265.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $345.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Monday. StockNews.com cut shares of Salesforce from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their target price on Salesforce from $290.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $307.87.

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.