Salesforce Inc. $CRM Stock: Russell Investments Group Ltd. Reduces Stake

Russell Investments Group Ltd. trimmed its holdings in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 1.5% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,501,892 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 22,835 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. owned about 0.18% of Salesforce worth $344,014,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CRM. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the 2nd quarter valued at $11,396,844,000. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the 2nd quarter worth $1,914,086,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 130.2% in the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 12,659,217 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $2,363,096,000 after acquiring an additional 7,160,302 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce in the 2nd quarter worth $927,332,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the second quarter worth $844,928,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Salesforce news, Director David Blair Kirk bought 4,176 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 18th. The shares were bought at an average price of $239.33 per share, for a total transaction of $999,442.08. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 18,748 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,486,958.84. This trade represents a 28.66% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Craig Conway sold 4,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $260.61, for a total transaction of $1,172,745.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 5,437 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,416,936.57. This trade represents a 45.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 3.50% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Stock Performance

Shares of Salesforce stock opened at $217.38 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $178.91 billion, a PE ratio of 19.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.24. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $236.19 and a 200-day simple moving average of $198.42. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. Salesforce Inc. has a 12 month low of $146.32 and a 12 month high of $269.11.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 26th. The CRM provider reported $5.90 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.27 by $2.63. The business had revenue of $11.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.33 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 24.90% and a net margin of 21.99%. Salesforce’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.91 earnings per share. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 16.670-16.710 EPS and its Q3 2027 guidance at 3.420-3.440 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Salesforce Inc. will post 12.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 8th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 17th were paid a dividend of $0.44 per share. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 17th. Salesforce’s payout ratio is 16.04%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CRM has been the subject of several analyst reports. Mizuho upped their target price on Salesforce from $265.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 16th. Argus lifted their price target on Salesforce from $290.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 31st. BTIG Research restated a “buy” rating and set a $300.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Citigroup reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Tuesday, October 20th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, August 27th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-two have given a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $278.98.

About Salesforce

Salesforce, Inc. is a cloud-based software company best known for customer relationship management (CRM) tools. Its platform helps businesses manage sales, customer service, marketing, commerce and customer data, and includes products such as Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Data Cloud and Agentforce. The company also offers Slack for workplace collaboration, Tableau for data analytics and visualization, and MuleSoft for connecting applications and data. Salesforce’s products are used by organizations across a range of industries and are available to customers around the world.