Marco Investment Management LLC Raises Position in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Marco Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 53,404 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 806 shares during the period. Salesforce makes up about 1.3% of Marco Investment Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest holding. Marco Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $14,617,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 2.2% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 8,329,687 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,141,562,000 after purchasing an additional 176,641 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 5,964,702 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,632,599,000 after purchasing an additional 57,825 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,912,854 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,618,407,000 after purchasing an additional 96,381 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 25.1% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,378,826 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,125,331,000 after purchasing an additional 877,495 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ValueAct Holdings L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 12.3% during the 2nd quarter. ValueAct Holdings L.P. now owns 3,914,309 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,006,369,000 after purchasing an additional 428,000 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. Piper Sandler lowered Salesforce from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Wedbush upped their target price on Salesforce from $315.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. UBS Group upped their target price on Salesforce from $275.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday. Raymond James upped their target price on Salesforce from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $315.00 target price (up from $300.00) 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Salesforce currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $336.37.

Salesforce Trading Up 1.9 %

Shares of Salesforce stock opened at $342.02 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $326.97 billion, a PE ratio of 59.48, a P/E/G ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 1.29. Salesforce, Inc. has a twelve month low of $212.00 and a twelve month high of $348.86. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $294.61 and its 200 day moving average price is $268.60. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The CRM provider reported $2.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.20. The firm 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%. Salesforce’s quarterly revenue was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.63 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 8th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 18th were paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 18th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is presently 27.83%.

Insider Activity at Salesforce

In other Salesforce news, insider Sabastian Niles sold 2,484 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 828 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $202,702.68. This trade represents a 75.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Parker Harris sold 4,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $262.90, for a total transaction of $1,104,180.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 117,581 shares in the company, valued at $30,912,044.90. This trade represents a 3.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 147,991 shares of company stock valued at $43,333,238. 3.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.