Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Grows Holdings in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 302.1% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,459,237 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,096,369 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned approximately 0.15% of Salesforce worth $397,919,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Salesforce by 1.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 87,913,628 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $23,592,501,000 after acquiring an additional 1,383,942 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its stake in shares of Salesforce by 6.9% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 9,258,518 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,484,616,000 after purchasing an additional 600,386 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Salesforce by 5.1% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 9,014,148 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $2,419,037,000 after buying an additional 437,435 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Salesforce in the 1st quarter valued at about $2,039,196,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Salesforce by 4.9% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,362,035 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,707,316,000 after purchasing an additional 295,681 shares during the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Salesforce

In other Salesforce news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 2,250 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $257.02, for a total value of $578,295.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 11,911,571 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,061,511,978.42. This represents a 0.02% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director David Blair Kirk acquired 3,400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 9th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $254.66 per share, for a total transaction of $865,844.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 3,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $973,819.84. This trade represents a 801.89% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 77,327 shares of company stock worth $19,651,406 over the last three months. Insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CRM has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Barclays cut their target price on Salesforce from $347.00 to $316.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 18th. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Salesforce from $300.00 to $260.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 18th. DA Davidson upgraded shares of Salesforce from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 price objective for the company in a report on Friday, August 15th. Roth Capital reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $395.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, September 4th. Finally, KeyCorp dropped their target price on shares of Salesforce from $440.00 to $400.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, September 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have given a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $332.58.

Salesforce Trading Up 1.1%

Shares of Salesforce stock opened at $247.04 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The stock has a market cap of $235.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.91, a P/E/G ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 1.22. Salesforce Inc. has a 12-month low of $226.48 and a 12-month high of $369.00. The business’s 50 day moving average is $250.77 and its 200-day moving average is $262.97.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 3rd. The CRM provider reported $2.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.78 by $0.13. Salesforce had a return on equity of 13.27% and a net margin of 16.87%.The company had revenue of $10.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.14 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.56 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. Salesforce has set its FY 2026 guidance at 11.330-11.370 EPS. Q3 2026 guidance at 2.840-2.860 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 9th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 17th will be paid a $0.416 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 17th. This represents a $1.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.13%.

Salesforce Company Profile

Salesforce, Inc provides Customer Relationship Management (CRM) technology that brings companies and customers together worldwide. The company's service includes sales to store data, monitor leads and progress, forecast opportunities, gain insights through analytics and artificial intelligence, and deliver quotes, contracts, and invoices; and service that enables companies to deliver trusted and highly personalized customer support at scale.