Maryland State Retirement & Pension System raised its holdings in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM – Free Report) by 13.3% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 48,789 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,728 shares during the quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $11,200,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Fluent Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,265,000. TAM Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the 1st quarter worth approximately $40,945,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 2.5% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 127,739 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $23,846,000 after buying an additional 3,125 shares during the last quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 184.5% in the 2nd quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 17,983 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,817,000 after buying an additional 11,663 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Next Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $2,119,000. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on CRM shares. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Salesforce in a report on Tuesday, October 20th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Salesforce from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $160.00 to $285.00 in a research note on Monday, October 12th. Citizens Jmp reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $315.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Friday, September 18th. CLSA assumed coverage on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Monday, July 20th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $165.00 price objective for the company. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 27th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-two have issued a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $278.98.
Read Our Latest Stock Analysis on CRM
Salesforce Stock Performance
CRM opened at $217.35 on Thursday. 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. The business has a 50 day moving average of $236.99 and a 200-day moving average of $198.48. The stock has a market cap of $178.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.81, a PEG ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.24.
Salesforce (NYSE:CRM – Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 26th. The CRM provider reported $5.90 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.27 by $2.63. The business had revenue of $11.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.33 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 24.90% and a net margin of 21.99%. The firm’s revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.91 EPS. 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, equities research analysts expect that Salesforce Inc. will post 12.82 earnings per share for the current year.
Salesforce Announces Dividend
The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 8th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 17th were given a dividend of $0.44 per share. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 17th. Salesforce’s payout ratio is 16.04%.
Insiders Place Their Bets
In related news, Director David Blair Kirk acquired 4,176 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 18th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $239.33 per share, for a total transaction of $999,442.08. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 18,748 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,486,958.84. This trade represents a 28.66% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Craig Conway sold 4,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $260.61, for a total transaction of $1,172,745.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 5,437 shares in the company, valued at $1,416,936.57. The trade was 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.
Top Salesforce Stories
Investors following CRM have been watching these stories:
- Neutral Sentiment: Salesforce scheduled its fiscal 2027 third-quarter earnings release and webcast. The announcement sets a date for investors to assess results and guidance but does not itself indicate a change in performance. Salesforce Announces Date of Third Quarter Fiscal 2027 Earnings Release and Webcast
- Neutral Sentiment: Coverage highlighted Salesforce’s value-stock characteristics and argued its shares may be undervalued, while noting that leverage concerns persist. Salesforce Stock Looks Undervalued Even As Leverage Concerns Linger
- Negative Sentiment: S&P cut Salesforce’s credit rating to A, citing concerns linked to deals and the company’s planned $25 billion buyback. The downgrade spotlights potential balance-sheet and capital-allocation risks. Salesforce Sinks as S&P Cuts Its Rating to A on Deals and a $25 Billion Buyback
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.
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