Financial Counselors Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Financial Counselors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 169,323 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,817 shares during the period. Financial Counselors Inc.’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $46,345,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CRM. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Salesforce by 13.6% during the third quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 58,036 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $15,885,000 after acquiring an additional 6,938 shares during the period. Aljian Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Salesforce by 16.1% in the 3rd quarter. Aljian Capital Management LLC now owns 13,258 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $3,629,000 after purchasing an additional 1,834 shares in the last quarter. AIA Group Ltd increased its position in Salesforce by 8.9% during the 3rd quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 24,028 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $6,577,000 after purchasing an additional 1,962 shares during the period. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Salesforce by 13.6% during the 3rd quarter. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. now owns 89,098 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $24,387,000 after buying an additional 10,656 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the third quarter valued at approximately $3,672,000. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. FBN Securities upgraded Salesforce to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Cfra set a $343.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Salesforce from $305.00 to $385.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $341.89.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Sabastian Niles sold 2,484 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $244.81, for a total value of $608,108.04. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 828 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $202,702.68. This trade represents a 75.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 413 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $285.29, for a total value of $117,824.77. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 7,006 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,998,741.74. This represents a 5.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 144,510 shares of company stock valued at $42,475,538 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Trading Down 3.8 %

Shares of CRM stock opened at $330.01 on Thursday. Salesforce, Inc. has a 1-year low of $212.00 and a 1-year high of $348.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 1.04. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $299.57 and its 200-day simple moving average is $269.87. The firm has a market cap of $315.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 57.39, a PEG ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 1.29.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 28th. The CRM provider reported $2.56 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.20. Salesforce had a return on equity of 12.01% and a net margin of 15.44%. The business had revenue of $9.33 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.22 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.63 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.55 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 8th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 18th were issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 18th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.48%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.83%.

About Salesforce

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.