Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. Acquires New Holdings in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 1,637 shares of the CRM provider’s stock, valued at approximately $431,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Graypoint LLC increased its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 10,504 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,764,000 after acquiring an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. Opes Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Salesforce by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Opes Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,295 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $341,000 after buying an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Prentice Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Salesforce by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Prentice Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,294 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $604,000 after buying an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Salesforce by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,045 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $275,000 after buying an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legal Advantage Investments Inc. increased its holdings in Salesforce by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Legal Advantage Investments Inc. now owns 5,571 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,466,000 after buying an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CRM has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $350.00 price objective (up from $325.00) on shares of Salesforce in a report on Friday, April 12th. Morgan Stanley raised Salesforce from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $290.00 to $350.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 21st. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Salesforce from $265.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 26th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Salesforce from $285.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, KeyCorp began coverage on Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. They set a “sector weight” rating on the stock. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Salesforce currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $307.87.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 216 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $278.71, for a total value of $60,201.36. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 2,869 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $799,618.99. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, COO Brian Millham sold 24,453 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $302.08, for a total transaction of $7,386,762.24. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 216 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $278.71, for a total value of $60,201.36. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 2,869 shares in the company, valued at $799,618.99. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 628,184 shares of company stock valued at $184,794,698. Company insiders own 3.70% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Stock Down 0.5 %

NYSE:CRM traded down $1.47 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $270.45. 4,906,818 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,698,991. The company has a fifty day moving average of $297.28 and a 200 day moving average of $261.43. Salesforce, Inc. has a twelve month low of $190.57 and a twelve month high of $318.71. The company has a market capitalization of $262.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 64.39, a P/E/G ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.09.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The CRM provider reported $1.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.72 by $0.06. Salesforce had a return on equity of 10.42% and a net margin of 11.87%. The company had revenue of $9.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.22 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.01 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.45 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 13th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.52%.

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.