Paradigm Financial Partners LLC Grows Position in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Paradigm Financial Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 159.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 9,692 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,963 shares during the quarter. Paradigm Financial Partners LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $2,550,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in CRM. DAVENPORT & Co LLC boosted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 25.7% during the third quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 4,411 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $894,000 after purchasing an additional 901 shares during the period. Walkner Condon Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 2.9% during the third quarter. Walkner Condon Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,633 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $534,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 16.0% during the third quarter. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 8,426 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,709,000 after acquiring an additional 1,160 shares in the last quarter. Evanson Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 44.8% during the third quarter. Evanson Asset Management LLC now owns 1,616 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $328,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 14.8% during the third quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC now owns 19,228 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $3,899,000 after acquiring an additional 2,479 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on Salesforce from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Argus increased their price objective on Salesforce from $290.00 to $354.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. Canaccord Genuity Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $350.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, March 7th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $350.00 price objective (up previously from $325.00) on shares of Salesforce in a report on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $360.00 price objective (up previously from $275.00) on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $310.61.

Salesforce Stock Performance

Shares of CRM stock traded up $1.15 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $274.29. 3,754,585 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,162,527. Salesforce, Inc. has a 12-month low of $190.76 and a 12-month high of $318.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 1.09. The company has a market cap of $266.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 65.31, a P/E/G ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 1.28. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $295.97 and a 200 day moving average price of $264.30.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last issued 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 the consensus estimate of $9.22 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.01 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 13th. Salesforce’s payout ratio is 9.52%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Salesforce news, COO Brian Millham sold 24,453 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $302.08, for a total value of $7,386,762.24. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $276.65, for a total value of $4,149,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 12,782,327 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,536,230,764.55. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Brian Millham sold 24,453 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $302.08, for a total value of $7,386,762.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 620,793 shares of company stock valued at $182,177,918 in the last quarter. 3.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.