Joseph Group Capital Management Purchases 111 Shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Joseph Group Capital Management lifted its position in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 1.6% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 7,181 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 111 shares during the period. Joseph Group Capital Management’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $1,846,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Spartan Planning & Wealth Management grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 66.3% in the fourth quarter. Spartan Planning & Wealth Management now owns 1,567 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $412,000 after acquiring an additional 625 shares in the last quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC boosted its position in Salesforce by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 5,951,415 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,566,055,000 after purchasing an additional 18,397 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc grew its stake in Salesforce by 32.6% in the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 789,525 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $207,756,000 after purchasing an additional 194,224 shares during the period. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 7,160 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,983,000 after purchasing an additional 95 shares during the last quarter. Finally, XN LP raised its stake in shares of Salesforce by 24.2% during the 2nd quarter. XN LP now owns 464,489 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $119,420,000 after purchasing an additional 90,616 shares during the period. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Salesforce Stock Up 5.3 %

Shares of NYSE CRM opened at $265.87 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $257.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.82, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.29. Salesforce, Inc. has a one year low of $193.68 and a one year high of $318.71. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $253.90 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $267.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 1.04.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The CRM provider reported $2.56 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $9.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.22 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 15.44% and a return on equity of 12.01%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.63 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 8th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 18th 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 of this dividend is Wednesday, September 18th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is presently 28.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Parker Harris sold 4,200 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $257.04, for a total transaction of $1,079,568.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 117,581 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,223,020.24. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, COO Brian Millham sold 1,678 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.32, for a total transaction of $406,612.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 1,662 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $402,735.84. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Parker Harris sold 4,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $257.04, for a total value of $1,079,568.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 117,581 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,223,020.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 66,576 shares of company stock worth $16,957,573 in the last ninety days. 3.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CRM has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $315.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target on shares of Salesforce from $350.00 to $300.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 30th. Raymond James increased their price objective on Salesforce from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Salesforce from $250.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Evercore ISI reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Salesforce has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $306.00.

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.