Meitav Investment House Ltd. Sells 113,121 Shares of Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Meitav Investment House Ltd. reduced its position in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 48.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 120,463 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 113,121 shares during the quarter. Meitav Investment House Ltd.’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $22,487,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of CRM. Byrne Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Salesforce by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC now owns 4,331 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,147,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the period. Fred Alger Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 0.3% in the third quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 14,943 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $3,548,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the period. Fulcrum Asset Management LLP raised its position in shares of Salesforce by 1.7% in the third quarter. Fulcrum Asset Management LLP now owns 2,774 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $657,000 after buying an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. Pine Haven Investment Counsel Inc raised its position in shares of Salesforce by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Pine Haven Investment Counsel Inc now owns 3,152 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $835,000 after buying an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Richards Merrill & Peterson Inc. boosted its stake in Salesforce by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Richards Merrill & Peterson Inc. now owns 4,239 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,123,000 after buying an additional 46 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Price Performance

NYSE:CRM traded up $5.70 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $171.35. The stock had a trading volume of 4,581,504 shares, compared to its average volume of 13,924,718. The stock has a market capitalization of $140.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.82, a P/E/G ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.18. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $173.23 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $197.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79. Salesforce Inc. has a one year low of $146.32 and a one year high of $276.80.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 27th. The CRM provider reported $3.88 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.13 by $0.75. The business had revenue of $11.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.05 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 18.73% and a return on equity of 18.72%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.58 earnings per share. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 14.060-14.120 EPS and its Q2 2027 guidance at 3.250-3.270 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Salesforce Inc. will post 10.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Monday, March 16th that allows the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the CRM provider to repurchase up to 14.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Investors of record on Thursday, June 11th were issued a dividend of $0.44 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 11th. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.37%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have weighed in on CRM shares. Wedbush started coverage on Salesforce in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. They issued an “outperform” rating on the stock. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on Salesforce from $225.00 to $215.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 28th. Citigroup upgraded shares of Salesforce from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. Piper Sandler lowered shares of Salesforce from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group cut their price target on shares of Salesforce from $295.00 to $280.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have given a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $254.42.

Salesforce 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.