Fairscale Capital LLC Takes Position in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Fairscale Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund acquired 4,421 shares of the CRM provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,132,000. Salesforce comprises approximately 1.0% of Fairscale Capital LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th largest position.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Spartan Planning & Wealth Management lifted its position in shares of Salesforce by 66.3% during the 4th quarter. Spartan Planning & Wealth Management now owns 1,567 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $412,000 after buying an additional 625 shares during the last quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC raised its stake in Salesforce by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 5,951,415 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,566,055,000 after acquiring an additional 18,397 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc lifted its position in Salesforce by 32.6% in the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 789,525 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $207,756,000 after acquiring an additional 194,224 shares during the last quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC boosted its stake in Salesforce by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 7,160 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,983,000 after acquiring an additional 95 shares in the last quarter. Finally, XN LP grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 24.2% during the second quarter. XN LP now owns 464,489 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $119,420,000 after purchasing an additional 90,616 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CRM has been the subject of several research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their target price on Salesforce from $350.00 to $300.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 30th. Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $315.00 price objective (up previously from $300.00) on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Salesforce from $320.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Salesforce to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Bank of America reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $325.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Friday, September 6th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $306.00.

Salesforce Price Performance

CRM stock opened at $266.80 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $258.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. Salesforce, Inc. has a 52-week low of $193.68 and a 52-week high of $318.71. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $254.14 and its 200-day simple moving average is $266.44.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The CRM provider reported $2.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.20. Salesforce had a return on equity of 12.01% and a net margin of 15.44%. The firm had revenue of $9.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.22 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.63 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.55 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 8th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 18th will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.60%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 18th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 28.78%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Parker Harris sold 4,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $257.04, for a total transaction of $1,079,568.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 117,581 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,223,020.24. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, insider Parker Harris sold 4,200 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $257.04, for a total value of $1,079,568.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 117,581 shares in the company, valued at $30,223,020.24. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Srinivas Tallapragada sold 942 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.32, for a total value of $228,265.44. Following the sale, the insider now owns 22,154 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,368,357.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 66,576 shares of company stock valued at $16,957,573 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

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.