Fred Alger Management LLC Has $19.81 Million Stake in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

Fred Alger Management LLC lowered its holdings in Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM – Get Rating) by 57.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 137,699 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 184,717 shares during the quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $19,807,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Wellington Shields & Co. LLC grew its position in Salesforce by 4.4% in the 2nd quarter. Wellington Shields & Co. LLC now owns 1,301 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $215,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the period. AlphaCore Capital LLC grew its position in Salesforce by 5.0% in the 2nd quarter. AlphaCore Capital LLC now owns 1,368 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $226,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the period. Wealth Architects LLC grew its position in Salesforce by 4.4% in the 1st quarter. Wealth Architects LLC now owns 1,537 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $326,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the period. Oakworth Capital Inc. grew its position in Salesforce by 5.8% in the 3rd quarter. Oakworth Capital Inc. now owns 1,205 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $173,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the period. Finally, Saturna Capital CORP lifted its stake in Salesforce by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Saturna Capital CORP now owns 4,502 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $648,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.83% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Stock Up 4.2 %

Shares of NYSE CRM opened at $182.89 on Wednesday. Salesforce, Inc. has a 12 month low of $126.34 and a 12 month high of $222.15. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $182.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 870.90, a PEG ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 1.21. The business has a 50-day moving average of $163.66 and a 200-day moving average of $153.24.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM – Get Rating) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, March 1st. The CRM provider reported $1.68 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.36 by $0.32. The company had revenue of $8.38 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.99 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 4.48% and a net margin of 0.66%. Salesforce’s quarterly revenue was up 14.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.24 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Salesforce, Inc. will post 4.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Wednesday, March 1st that authorizes the company to buyback $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the CRM provider to purchase up to 10.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Salesforce news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 725 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $174.42, for a total value of $126,454.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 27,753,609 shares in the company, valued at $4,840,784,481.78. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Salesforce news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 725 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $174.42, for a total value of $126,454.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 27,753,609 shares in the company, valued at $4,840,784,481.78. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Brent Hyder sold 292 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $128.55, for a total value of $37,536.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 6,305 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $810,507.75. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 37,293 shares of company stock worth $6,285,082 in the last quarter. 3.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on CRM. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on Salesforce from $200.00 to $185.00 in a research note on Monday, November 28th. Wolfe Research cut Salesforce from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 1st. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Salesforce from $236.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 2nd. Loop Capital lifted their target price on Salesforce from $150.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 2nd. Finally, JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $250.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, March 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Salesforce currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $211.24.

Salesforce Company Profile

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Salesforce, Inc engages in the design and development of cloud-based enterprise software for customer relationship management. Its solutions include sales force automation, customer service and support, marketing automation, digital commerce, community management, collaboration, industry-specific solutions, and salesforce platform.