Moss Adams Wealth Advisors LLC Invests $218,000 in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Moss Adams Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 829 shares of the CRM provider’s stock, valued at approximately $218,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of CRM. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Salesforce by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 14,921,042 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $3,926,323,000 after buying an additional 752,566 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 11,195,108 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,270,144,000 after purchasing an additional 121,436 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Salesforce by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,397,516 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,420,302,000 after purchasing an additional 145,625 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its stake in Salesforce by 7.1% during the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 4,678,330 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $948,676,000 after purchasing an additional 309,881 shares during the period. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC lifted its stake in Salesforce by 1,254.7% in the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 3,483,670 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $916,693,000 after buying an additional 3,226,512 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on CRM shares. Citigroup lifted their price target on Salesforce from $265.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 26th. Argus raised their price objective on Salesforce from $290.00 to $354.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Salesforce from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Salesforce from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $310.61.

Salesforce Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE CRM traded up $1.67 on Wednesday, reaching $278.85. 3,282,396 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,499,356. The company has a quick ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $293.29 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $267.99. Salesforce, Inc. has a 12 month low of $193.68 and a 12 month high of $318.71. The company has a market cap of $269.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 66.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.30.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. The business had revenue of $9.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.22 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 10.42% and a net margin of 11.87%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.01 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Salesforce, Inc. will post 7.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.57%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 13th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.52%.

Insider Transactions at Salesforce

In other news, COO Brian Millham sold 24,453 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $302.08, for a total transaction of $7,386,762.24. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $292.43, for a total transaction of $4,386,450.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 13,521,166 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,953,994,573.38. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Brian Millham sold 24,453 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $302.08, for a total transaction of $7,386,762.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 624,193 shares of company stock worth $182,212,898 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 3.70% of the company’s stock.

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.