Kaizen Financial Strategies Increases Stock Holdings in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Kaizen Financial Strategies increased its holdings in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 1.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,396 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 71 shares during the period. Salesforce accounts for 1.0% of Kaizen Financial Strategies’ investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest position. Kaizen Financial Strategies’ holdings in Salesforce were worth $1,716,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in CRM. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the fourth quarter valued at $3,599,867,000. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 926.4% in the fourth quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 4,256,211 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,422,979,000 after purchasing an additional 3,841,521 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 30,456.9% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,801,588 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,020,194,000 after purchasing an additional 3,789,147 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the fourth quarter valued at $1,173,564,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 42.5% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 7,791,015 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,604,770,000 after purchasing an additional 2,325,156 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Stock Down 0.7%

Shares of Salesforce stock opened at $265.03 on Friday. 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 market cap of $254.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.59, a P/E/G ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.42. Salesforce, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $227.77 and a fifty-two week high of $369.00. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $267.31 and a 200 day moving average price of $304.49.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 28th. The CRM provider reported $2.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.55 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $9.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.74 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 12.34% and a net margin of 15.96%. Salesforce’s quarterly revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.44 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 24th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th were issued a dividend of $0.42 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 10th. This is a positive change from Salesforce’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.63%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is 25.98%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on Salesforce from $425.00 to $375.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Citigroup lowered their price target on Salesforce from $320.00 to $295.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $370.00 price target (down previously from $380.00) on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday. Stephens lowered their price target on Salesforce from $311.00 to $309.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Finally, Westpark Capital reissued a “buy” rating and set a $320.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Wednesday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $343.32.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Amy E. Weaver sold 6,221 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $301.00, for a total transaction of $1,872,521.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 46,750 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,071,750. This represents a 11.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Parker Harris sold 3,273 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $284.58, for a total value of $931,430.34. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 125,146 shares in the company, valued at $35,614,048.68. The trade was a 2.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 46,553 shares of company stock valued at $12,897,323. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Salesforce Company 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.