West Oak Capital LLC Acquires 770 Shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

West Oak Capital LLC raised its position in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 106.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,495 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after buying an additional 770 shares during the quarter. West Oak Capital LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $450,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in CRM. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce in the fourth quarter valued at $2,762,331,000. Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 76.4% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 13,708,615 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $3,607,493,000 after purchasing an additional 5,935,973 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 1,254.7% in the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 3,483,670 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $916,693,000 after purchasing an additional 3,226,512 shares in the last quarter. Coatue Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the 4th quarter valued at about $564,188,000. Finally, DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main lifted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 110.3% in the 4th quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 3,394,912 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $893,336,000 after acquiring an additional 1,780,421 shares during the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CRM has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. KeyCorp initiated coverage on Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. They issued a “sector weight” rating for the company. Oppenheimer lowered their price target on Salesforce from $325.00 to $280.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Citigroup lowered their price target on Salesforce from $323.00 to $260.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Salesforce from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on Salesforce from $355.00 to $305.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. One equities 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Salesforce currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $292.79.

Insider Buying and Selling at Salesforce

In other news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $216.66, for a total transaction of $3,249,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 12,407,327 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,688,171,467.82. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, CFO Amy E. Weaver sold 5,864 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $274.77, for a total value of $1,611,251.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 45,231 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,428,121.87. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $216.66, for a total transaction of $3,249,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 12,407,327 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,688,171,467.82. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 509,952 shares of company stock worth $139,786,753 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Price Performance

Shares of Salesforce stock traded up $0.21 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $256.42. 5,130,403 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,962,483. The company has a market capitalization of $248.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.13, a P/E/G ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.29. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $259.43 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $276.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 1.11. Salesforce, Inc. has a 52-week low of $193.68 and a 52-week high of $318.71.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 29th. The CRM provider reported $2.44 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.38 by $0.06. Salesforce had a return on equity of 11.57% and a net margin of 15.30%. The company had revenue of $9.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.15 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.15 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 10.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.47 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 25th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 9th will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, July 9th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.62%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.19%.

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.