Canandaigua National Trust Co of Florida Makes New Investment in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Canandaigua National Trust Co of Florida purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 5,565 shares of the CRM provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,278,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of CRM. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Salesforce during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. ABS Direct Equity Fund LLC acquired a new position in Salesforce in the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,000. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Persistent Asset Partners Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Finally, Costello Asset Management INC increased its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 410.3% during the 1st quarter. Costello Asset Management INC now owns 148 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 119 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director David Blair Kirk acquired 4,176 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 18th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $239.33 per share, for a total transaction of $999,442.08. Following the purchase, the director owned 18,748 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,486,958.84. This represents a 28.66% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Craig Conway sold 4,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $260.61, for a total value of $1,172,745.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 5,437 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,416,936.57. This represents a 45.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Company insiders own 3.50% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of CRM traded down $0.45 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $224.54. 5,186,020 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 13,773,228. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $224.01 and its 200-day moving average is $192.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 0.84. Salesforce Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $146.32 and a fifty-two week high of $269.11. The company has a market cap of $184.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.47, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.26.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $11.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.33 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 21.99% and a return on equity of 24.90%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business 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 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 8th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 17th will be paid a $0.44 dividend. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 17th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.04%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley set a $315.00 price objective on Salesforce in a report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Salesforce from $275.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 17th. Citizens Jmp reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $315.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Friday, September 18th. Phillip Securities cut Salesforce from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $253.00 to $166.00 in a report on Monday, June 29th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, August 27th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty have given a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $275.14.

Salesforce Company Profile

Salesforce, Inc (NYSE: CRM) develops cloud-based customer relationship management (CRM) software and enterprise applications. Its platform helps organizations manage sales, customer service, marketing, commerce, analytics, data integration and collaboration through subscription-based services.

The company’s product portfolio includes Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Marketing Cloud, Commerce Cloud, Salesforce Platform, Data Cloud and Tableau. Salesforce also offers MuleSoft integration technology, Slack collaboration software and artificial intelligence capabilities through its Einstein platform.