Handelsbanken Fonder AB Sells 37,039 Shares of Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Handelsbanken Fonder AB lowered its stake in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 8.9% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 377,259 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 37,039 shares during the quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $59,101,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Salesforce in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Key Capital Management INC acquired a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Gilpin Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Salesforce in the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Legacy Bridge LLC bought a new position in Salesforce in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Finally, Costello Asset Management INC boosted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 410.3% during the first quarter. Costello Asset Management INC now owns 148 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 119 shares in the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Salesforce Stock Up 2.4%

Shares of Salesforce stock opened at $197.32 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $170.99 and its 200 day moving average is $182.79. Salesforce Inc. has a one year low of $146.32 and a one year high of $269.11. The firm has a market cap of $161.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.84, a PEG ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.79.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 27th. The CRM provider reported $3.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.13 by $0.75. The firm had revenue of $11.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.05 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 18.72% and a net margin of 18.73%.The company’s revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm 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. Equities research analysts anticipate that Salesforce Inc. will post 10.27 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Investors of record on Thursday, June 11th were paid a dividend of $0.44 per share. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 11th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is 20.37%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on CRM shares. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $185.00 price objective (down from $287.00) on shares of Salesforce in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. Canaccord Genuity Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $225.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a report on Tuesday, June 16th. Citizens Jmp restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $315.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, May 28th. Guggenheim raised Salesforce from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $228.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on Salesforce from $225.00 to $215.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have given a Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Salesforce presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $249.51.

About Salesforce

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.