Payden & Rygel Has $1.29 Million Stock Holdings in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Payden & Rygel increased its holdings in shares of Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 14.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,700 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 600 shares during the period. Payden & Rygel’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $1,286,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its holdings in Salesforce by 2.2% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 8,329,687 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,141,562,000 after purchasing an additional 176,641 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 48.3% during the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 5,906,877 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,518,658,000 after acquiring an additional 1,922,674 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 25.1% in the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,378,826 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,125,331,000 after purchasing an additional 877,495 shares during the last quarter. ValueAct Holdings L.P. increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 12.3% during the 2nd quarter. ValueAct Holdings L.P. now owns 3,914,309 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,006,369,000 after purchasing an additional 428,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in Salesforce by 22.7% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,492,583 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $897,935,000 after buying an additional 646,127 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CRM opened at $325.70 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $291.21 and a 200 day moving average price of $267.72. Salesforce, Inc. has a 1-year low of $212.00 and a 1-year high of $348.86. The firm has a market cap of $311.37 billion, a PE ratio of 56.64, a PEG ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

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

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 8th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 18th were paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 18th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.49%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is presently 27.83%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CRM has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $330.00 target price (up previously from $300.00) on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Scotiabank began coverage on Salesforce in a research note on Monday. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $425.00 price objective on the stock. Citigroup raised their target price on Salesforce from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Salesforce from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Northland Securities upgraded shares of Salesforce from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $270.00 to $400.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Salesforce has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $326.19.

Insider Buying and Selling at Salesforce

In other Salesforce news, CFO Amy E. Weaver sold 897 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $285.29, for a total transaction of $255,905.13. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 52,930 shares in the company, valued at $15,100,399.70. This trade represents a 1.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Brian Millham sold 60,522 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total value of $18,156,600.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 136,117 shares of company stock worth $39,085,562 over the last quarter. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.