12,221 Shares in Salesforce Inc. $CRM Bought by BDF Gestion

Key Points

• BDF Gestion bought 12,221 Salesforce shares in the third quarter, valued at approximately $2.8 million. Institutional investors collectively own 80.43% of Salesforce.
• Analysts maintain a generally positive outlook, with Salesforce receiving a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $278.40; ratings include 32 Buys, 13 Holds and three Sells.
• Salesforce reported quarterly EPS of $5.90, well above the $3.27 consensus estimate, on revenue of $11.35 billion, up 10.8% year over year. The company also paid a quarterly dividend of $0.44 per share, representing a 0.7% yield.

BDF Gestion bought a new stake in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 12,221 shares of the CRM provider's stock, valued at approximately $2,806,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Fluent Financial LLC purchased a new position in Salesforce in the second quarter valued at about $2,265,000. TAM Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the 1st quarter worth approximately $40,945,000. Secured Retirement Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,004,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised 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 worth $23,846,000 after purchasing an additional 3,125 shares during the period. Finally, Anchor Investment Management LLC raised 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 worth $2,817,000 after purchasing an additional 11,663 shares during the period. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on CRM shares. CLSA began coverage on Salesforce in a research note on Monday, July 20th. They issued a "hold" rating and a $165.00 price objective on the stock. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, September 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, August 27th. Erste Group Bank raised Salesforce from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Argus upped their price target on Salesforce from $290.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, August 31st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-two have assigned a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $278.40.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director David Blair Kirk acquired 4,176 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 18th. The stock was bought at an average price of $239.33 per share, with a total value of $999,442.08. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 18,748 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,486,958.84. The trade was a 28.66% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Craig Conway sold 4,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $260.61, for a total transaction of $1,172,745.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 5,437 shares in the company, valued at $1,416,936.57. This trade represents a 45.29% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 3.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Salesforce Stock Performance

CRM stock traded down $0.58 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $240.12. 2,149,416 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 13,492,922. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $231.47 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $194.89. 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 52 week low of $146.32 and a 52 week high of $269.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $197.62 billion, a PE ratio of 21.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.26.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 26th. The CRM provider reported $5.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.27 by $2.63. The firm had revenue of $11.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.33 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 24.90% and a net margin of 21.99%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior 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. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Salesforce Inc. will post 12.82 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 8th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 17th were given a $0.44 dividend. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 17th. Salesforce's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.04%.

Salesforce Company Profile

Salesforce, Inc NYSE: CRM is a global enterprise software company that provides cloud-based customer relationship management (CRM) technology. Its platform helps organizations manage sales, customer service, marketing, commerce, data, analytics and interactions with customers across digital and traditional channels.

The company's products include Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Marketing Cloud, Commerce Cloud and Data Cloud. Salesforce also offers Tableau for data visualization and analytics, MuleSoft for application integration, and Slack for workplace collaboration.

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