FORVIS Wealth Advisors LLC Purchases 257 Shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

FORVIS Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 18.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,650 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after buying an additional 257 shares during the period. FORVIS Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $497,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of CRM. Graypoint LLC grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 10,504 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $2,764,000 after buying an additional 36 shares during the period. Chase Investment Counsel Corp raised its stake in Salesforce by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Chase Investment Counsel Corp now owns 10,377 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,730,000 after buying an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Salesforce by 11.4% in the fourth quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 353 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $93,000 after acquiring an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. Opes Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Salesforce by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Opes Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,295 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $341,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Prentice Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Prentice Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,294 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $604,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently commented on CRM shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $350.00 to $300.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $300.00 price objective (down from $360.00) on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Raymond James reissued a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $325.00 target price (down previously from $380.00) on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, May 30th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on Salesforce from $335.00 to $265.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 30th. Finally, KeyCorp started coverage on Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. They issued a “sector weight” rating for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, twenty-five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $292.79.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Salesforce news, Director G Mason Morfit purchased 428,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 3rd. The shares were bought at an average price of $233.17 per share, with a total value of $99,796,760.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 3,914,309 shares in the company, valued at $912,699,429.53. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Salesforce news, Director G Mason Morfit bought 428,000 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 3rd. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $233.17 per share, for a total transaction of $99,796,760.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 3,914,309 shares in the company, valued at approximately $912,699,429.53. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Parker Harris sold 4,200 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $256.24, for a total transaction of $1,076,208.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 116,693 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,901,414.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 484,152 shares of company stock valued at $131,779,561 in the last quarter. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Salesforce Price Performance

Shares of CRM stock traded up $3.63 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $264.58. The company had a trading volume of 624,623 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,895,731. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 1.11. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $258.48 and its 200-day moving average price is $276.21. Salesforce, Inc. has a 52-week low of $193.68 and a 52-week high of $318.71. The company has a market capitalization of $256.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.93, a P/E/G ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 1.29.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 29th. The CRM provider reported $2.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.38 by $0.06. Salesforce had a net margin of 15.30% and a return on equity of 11.57%. The company had revenue of $9.13 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.15 billion. Salesforce’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.15 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 25th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.60%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, July 9th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is presently 7.19%.

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.