Gateway Advisory LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Gateway Advisory LLC boosted its position in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 3.2% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 17,127 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after buying an additional 532 shares during the quarter. Gateway Advisory LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $4,404,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 1.2% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 84,635,254 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $25,490,446,000 after acquiring an additional 1,008,841 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its stake in shares of Salesforce by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 19,561,325 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $5,147,402,000 after purchasing an additional 457,463 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Salesforce by 5.2% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 14,905,462 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $3,922,223,000 after buying an additional 736,986 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors raised its position in shares of Salesforce by 26.9% during the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 14,376,536 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $4,329,925,000 after buying an additional 3,044,611 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors raised its position in shares of Salesforce by 3.0% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 14,116,449 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $4,251,592,000 after buying an additional 407,834 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of CRM stock opened at $264.21 on Tuesday. Salesforce, Inc. has a twelve month low of $193.68 and a twelve month high of $318.71. The company has a market capitalization of $256.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.52, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.04. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $254.37 and its 200 day simple moving average is $265.91.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $9.33 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.22 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 12.01% and a net margin of 15.44%. The firm’s revenue was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.63 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.55 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 8th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 18th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 18th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.78%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 413 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.78, for a total value of $105,637.14. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 6,431 shares in the company, valued at $1,644,921.18. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CAO Sundeep G. Reddy sold 413 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.78, for a total transaction of $105,637.14. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 6,431 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,644,921.18. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Parker Harris sold 5,600 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.17, for a total transaction of $1,400,952.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 116,693 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,193,087.81. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 70,633 shares of company stock worth $18,100,349 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CRM has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Salesforce from $295.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Evercore ISI reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Monday, August 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Salesforce from $300.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Loop Capital reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $270.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $280.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Salesforce has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $307.73.

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.