Berbice Capital Management LLC Takes $729,000 Position in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Berbice Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 2,180 shares of the CRM provider’s stock, valued at approximately $729,000. Salesforce comprises approximately 0.6% of Berbice Capital Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th biggest holding.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Nabity Jensen Investment Management Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the 3rd quarter valued at $1,215,000. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 13.6% in the third quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 58,036 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $15,885,000 after purchasing an additional 6,938 shares in the last quarter. Aljian Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Salesforce by 16.1% in the third quarter. Aljian Capital Management LLC now owns 13,258 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $3,629,000 after acquiring an additional 1,834 shares during the last quarter. AIA Group Ltd increased its stake in shares of Salesforce by 8.9% in the third quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 24,028 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $6,577,000 after acquiring an additional 1,962 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Salesforce by 1.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,780,318 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $5,395,132,000 after acquiring an additional 257,501 shares during the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CRM has been the topic of several analyst reports. Cfra set a $343.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Guggenheim cut shares of Salesforce from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $247.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of Salesforce from $400.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $425.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Salesforce from $275.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, thirty-one have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $377.63.

Insider Activity at Salesforce

In other news, insider Parker Harris sold 3,970 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $296.74, for a total transaction of $1,178,057.80. Following the sale, the insider now owns 119,402 shares in the company, valued at $35,431,349.48. This trade represents a 3.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 436 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $332.28, for a total transaction of $144,874.08. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 7,057 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,344,899.96. The trade was a 5.82 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 1,173,891 shares of company stock valued at $402,840,388. 3.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Salesforce Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of CRM opened at $336.90 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $322.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 55.54, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $336.50 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $293.20. Salesforce, Inc. has a twelve month low of $212.00 and a twelve month high of $369.00.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, December 3rd. The CRM provider reported $2.41 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.44 by ($0.03). Salesforce had a return on equity of 12.34% and a net margin of 15.96%. The company had revenue of $9.44 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.35 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.62 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.48 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 18th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 18th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.32%.

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.