7,966 Shares of Salesforce Inc. $CRM Bought by Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC

Key Points

• Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors opened a Salesforce position, buying 7,966 shares worth approximately $1.83 million in the third quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds collectively own 80.43% of the stock.
• Analyst sentiment is broadly positive: Salesforce has a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating and an average price target of $278.98, based on 36 Buy or Strong Buy ratings among 52 analysts.
• In its latest reported quarter, Salesforce earned $5.90 per share, beating the $3.27 consensus estimate, while revenue rose 10.8% year over year to $11.35 billion.

Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 7,966 shares of the CRM provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,829,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Confluence Wealth Services Inc. lifted its stake in Salesforce by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Confluence Wealth Services Inc. now owns 4,493 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $1,031,000 after acquiring an additional 156 shares during the period. AMG National Trust Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. AMG National Trust Bank now owns 13,683 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $3,141,000 after acquiring an additional 496 shares during the last quarter. Moneco Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 15.4% in the 3rd quarter. Moneco Advisors LLC now owns 4,807 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $1,104,000 after acquiring an additional 643 shares during the last quarter. 626 Financial LLC increased its stake in shares of Salesforce by 6.3% in the third quarter. 626 Financial LLC now owns 1,537 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $353,000 after acquiring an additional 91 shares during the period. Finally, Keybank National Association OH increased its stake in shares of Salesforce by 24.7% in the third quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 33,676 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $7,731,000 after acquiring an additional 6,662 shares during the period. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays cut shares of Salesforce from an "overweight" rating to a "positive" rating in a report on Monday, October 12th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Salesforce from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, August 27th. Bank of America raised Salesforce from an "underperform" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price target for the stock from $160.00 to $285.00 in a research report on Monday, October 12th. Citizens Jmp reiterated a "market outperform" rating and set a $315.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Friday, September 18th. Finally, TD Cowen initiated coverage on Salesforce in a research note on Monday, October 12th. They set a "buy" rating for the company. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-two have assigned a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $278.98.

Top Salesforce Stories

Here are a few of the latest stories about CRM:

• Positive Sentiment: Missionforce National Security received “Awardable” status in a federal solutions marketplace, giving Department of War organizations access to Salesforce’s recruiting capabilities. This could support government-sector opportunities, though the immediate financial impact is unclear. Missionforce National Security Achieves Awardable Status
• 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

Salesforce Trading Up 1.8%

CRM stock opened at $217.35 on Thursday. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $236.99 and its 200-day simple moving average is $198.48. 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 52-week low of $146.32 and a 52-week high of $269.11. The firm has a market cap of $178.88 billion, a P/E 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 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.27 by $2.63. Salesforce had a return on equity of 24.90% and a net margin of 21.99%. The firm had revenue of $11.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $11.33 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.91 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. 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 forecast that Salesforce Inc. will post 12.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 17th. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. Salesforce's dividend payout ratio is currently 16.04%.

Insider Activity at Salesforce

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

Salesforce Profile

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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding CRM? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.