Sterling Investment Counsel LLC Has $1.06 Million Stock Position in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Sterling Investment Counsel LLC increased its holdings in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 234.9% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 4,487 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,147 shares during the quarter. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $1,063,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Painted Porch Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Salesforce by 260.0% in the second quarter. Painted Porch Advisors LLC now owns 90 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the period. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the 2nd quarter worth about $27,000. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in Salesforce by 314.8% in the 1st quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 112 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc raised its holdings in Salesforce by 383.3% in the 2nd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 116 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 92 shares during the period. Finally, Maseco LLP acquired a new stake in Salesforce during the second quarter worth approximately $34,000. Institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Stock Down 0.4%

NYSE:CRM opened at $264.78 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $249.80 and its 200 day simple moving average is $251.74. The company has a market cap of $248.10 billion, a PE ratio of 35.35, a P/E/G ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 1.26. Salesforce Inc. has a one year low of $221.96 and a one year high of $367.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, December 3rd. The CRM provider reported $3.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.86 by $0.39. The business had revenue of $10.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.27 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 14.41% and a net margin of 17.91%.Salesforce’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.41 EPS. Salesforce has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.020-3.040 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 8th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 18th will be issued a $0.416 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 18th. This represents a $1.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. Salesforce’s payout ratio is presently 22.16%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on CRM. Citigroup downgraded Salesforce from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, December 5th. Mizuho set a $340.00 price objective on Salesforce in a report on Wednesday, December 10th. BTIG Research initiated coverage on Salesforce in a research report on Tuesday, December 16th. They set a “buy” rating and a $335.00 price objective on the stock. Canaccord Genuity Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $300.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. Finally, Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $360.00 to $340.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have given a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $326.68.

Insider Activity

In other Salesforce news, Director G Mason Morfit bought 96,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, December 5th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $260.58 per share, for a total transaction of $25,015,680.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 2,994,509 shares in the company, valued at $780,309,155.22. This trade represents a 3.31% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Marc Benioff sold 122 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $259.00, for a total value of $31,598.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 11,911,571 shares in the company, valued at $3,085,096,889. The trade was a 0.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 161,784 shares of company stock worth $38,357,182. 3.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Salesforce Company Profile

Salesforce, founded in 1999 and headquartered in San Francisco, is a global provider of cloud-based software focused on customer relationship management (CRM) and enterprise applications. The company popularized the software-as-a-service (SaaS) model for CRM and has built a broad portfolio of products designed to help organizations manage sales, service, marketing, commerce and analytics through a unified, cloud-first platform.

Core offerings include Sales Cloud for sales automation, Service Cloud for customer support, Marketing Cloud for digital marketing and engagement, and Commerce Cloud for e-commerce.