Clearstead Trust LLC Purchases 1,976 Shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Clearstead Trust LLC boosted its position in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 19.9% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 11,912 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,976 shares during the quarter. Salesforce makes up approximately 0.9% of Clearstead Trust LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd biggest holding. Clearstead Trust LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $3,135,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Folger Nolan Fleming Douglas Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Salesforce by 7.3% during the third quarter. Folger Nolan Fleming Douglas Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,032 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $209,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Smithbridge Asset Management Inc. DE boosted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Smithbridge Asset Management Inc. DE now owns 15,040 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $3,050,000 after acquiring an additional 168 shares in the last quarter. Geneva Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $858,000. Sage Mountain Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 20.1% in the 3rd quarter. Sage Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 2,881 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $584,000 after acquiring an additional 483 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BNC Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $2,159,000. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $269.53, for a total transaction of $4,042,950.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 12,707,327 shares in the company, valued at $3,425,005,846.31. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $269.53, for a total transaction of $4,042,950.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 12,707,327 shares in the company, valued at $3,425,005,846.31. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Srinivas Tallapragada sold 2,890 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.32, for a total value of $893,934.80. Following the sale, the insider now owns 60,416 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,687,877.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 629,993 shares of company stock worth $184,255,474. Company insiders own 3.70% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently commented on CRM shares. Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $300.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a report on Monday, April 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Salesforce from $260.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. StockNews.com cut shares of Salesforce from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Salesforce from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Salesforce from $285.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Salesforce has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $310.61.

Salesforce Stock Up 0.6 %

CRM stock traded up $1.53 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $273.66. 4,041,636 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,219,539. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $294.23 and its 200-day moving average is $266.17. 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 $264.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 65.16, a PEG ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.30.

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

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.58%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 13th. Salesforce’s payout ratio is currently 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.