Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc. Purchases 264 Shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc. boosted its position in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 3.5% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 7,805 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after buying an additional 264 shares during the quarter. Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc.’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $2,054,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Marks Group Wealth Management Inc boosted its position in Salesforce by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Marks Group Wealth Management Inc now owns 35,220 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $9,268,000 after acquiring an additional 257 shares during the last quarter. Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. raised its stake in Salesforce by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. now owns 7,881 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,206,000 after acquiring an additional 105 shares during the period. Pure Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Salesforce in the 4th quarter valued at $214,000. Lone Pine Capital LLC grew its holdings in Salesforce by 47.5% in the 3rd quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC now owns 2,499,630 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $506,875,000 after buying an additional 804,634 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vicus Capital grew its holdings in Salesforce by 153.2% in the 3rd quarter. Vicus Capital now owns 2,575 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $522,000 after buying an additional 1,558 shares in the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently issued reports on CRM shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Salesforce from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. KeyCorp started coverage on Salesforce in a report on Thursday, March 21st. They set a “sector weight” rating on the stock. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $342.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a report on Monday, April 15th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Salesforce from $325.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, Argus increased their target price on Salesforce from $290.00 to $354.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $310.61.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.54, for a total value of $4,733,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 13,311,166 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,200,205,319.64. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Salesforce news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 15,000 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.54, for a total transaction of $4,733,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 13,311,166 shares in the company, valued at $4,200,205,319.64. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Brian Millham sold 4,204 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $278.00, for a total value of $1,168,712.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 610,793 shares of company stock worth $179,197,018 in the last quarter. 3.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Salesforce Trading Down 2.1 %

NYSE CRM traded down $5.85 on Tuesday, hitting $269.89. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,255,646 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,594,459. Salesforce, Inc. has a 52-week low of $190.76 and a 52-week high of $318.71. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $295.69 and its 200 day simple moving average is $265.20. The firm has a market cap of $261.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 65.03, a PEG ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 1.28.

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

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 13th. Salesforce’s payout ratio is presently 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.