Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. Sells 3,605 Shares of Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. trimmed its stake in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 8.1% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 40,910 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 3,605 shares during the period. Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S.’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $11,155,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Coign Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in Salesforce by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. Coign Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,183 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $586,000 after buying an additional 37 shares during the period. Staley Capital Advisers Inc. increased its position in Salesforce by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Staley Capital Advisers Inc. now owns 3,343 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $897,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the period. KDT Advisors LLC increased its position in Salesforce by 4.1% in the 1st quarter. KDT Advisors LLC now owns 967 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $260,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the period. Liberty One Investment Management LLC increased its position in Salesforce by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Liberty One Investment Management LLC now owns 3,165 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $849,000 after buying an additional 39 shares during the period. Finally, First Command Advisory Services Inc. increased its position in Salesforce by 7.3% in the 1st quarter. First Command Advisory Services Inc. now owns 572 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $154,000 after buying an additional 39 shares during the period. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Salesforce Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:CRM opened at $255.10 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $242.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.19. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $246.28 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $257.99. Salesforce Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $226.48 and a fifty-two week high of $369.00.

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

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 17th were paid a $0.416 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 17th. This represents a $1.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. Salesforce’s payout ratio is currently 24.13%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director David Blair Kirk purchased 3,400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 9th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $254.66 per share, with a total value of $865,844.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 3,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $973,819.84. The trade was a 801.89% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Marc Benioff sold 2,250 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $246.07, for a total value of $553,657.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 11,911,571 shares in the company, valued at $2,931,080,275.97. This trade represents a 0.02% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 78,750 shares of company stock worth $19,424,880. Insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CRM has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Northland Capmk downgraded Salesforce from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on Salesforce from $365.00 to $325.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 4th. Roth Capital restated a “buy” rating and set a $395.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, September 4th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their price objective on Salesforce from $255.00 to $221.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 4th. Twenty-five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $325.23.

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.