Canoe Financial LP Invests $57.34 Million in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Key Points

• Canoe Financial LP has acquired 210,263 shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM), valued at approximately $57.3 million, during the second quarter.
• Salesforce's CEO Marc Benioff sold 2,250 shares at an average price of $257.02, reducing his ownership slightly while Director David Blair Kirk increased his stake by 801.89% with the purchase of 3,400 shares.
• Analysts have varied ratings on Salesforce, with an average price target of $332.58 and recommendations ranging from "Strong Buy" to "Sell".

Canoe Financial LP purchased a new stake in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 210,263 shares of the CRM provider's stock, valued at approximately $57,337,000.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Neville Rodie & Shaw Inc. boosted its position in shares of Salesforce by 4.6% during the second quarter. Neville Rodie & Shaw Inc. now owns 59,970 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $16,353,000 after purchasing an additional 2,644 shares in the last quarter. AG2R LA Mondiale Gestion D Actifs bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the first quarter valued at approximately $9,367,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its position in shares of Salesforce by 31.2% during the first quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 344,887 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $93,016,000 after purchasing an additional 81,916 shares in the last quarter. Strs Ohio bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the first quarter valued at approximately $100,472,000. Finally, Wesbanco Bank Inc. boosted its holdings in Salesforce by 6.8% in the second quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. now owns 110,968 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $30,260,000 after acquiring an additional 7,091 shares in the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on CRM shares. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Salesforce from $340.00 to $385.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 29th. Needham & Company LLC restated a "buy" rating and issued a $400.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, September 4th. Roth Capital reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $395.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, September 4th. DA Davidson raised Salesforce from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $225.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, August 15th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price objective on Salesforce from $300.00 to $260.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have assigned a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Salesforce has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $332.58.

Salesforce Stock Up 1.0%

CRM stock traded up $2.55 on Monday, hitting $249.64. 7,518,279 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 10,219,225. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.12. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $250.58 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $262.38. The stock has a market cap of $237.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.22. Salesforce Inc. has a 12-month low of $226.48 and a 12-month high of $369.00.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last posted 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. The business had revenue of $10.24 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.14 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 13.27% and a net margin of 16.87%.The company's quarterly revenue was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.56 EPS. 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, equities research analysts expect that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.416 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 17th. This represents a $1.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Salesforce's dividend payout ratio is presently 24.13%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director David Blair Kirk bought 3,400 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 9th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $254.66 per share, with a total value of $865,844.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, 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 ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Marc Benioff sold 2,250 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $269.38, for a total value of $606,105.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 11,911,571 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,208,738,995.98. This trade represents a 0.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 74,250 shares of company stock valued at $18,844,155 in the last three months. Insiders own 3.00% of the company's stock.

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.