Cacti Asset Management LLC Makes New Investment in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Key Points

• Cacti Asset Management acquired 64,070 Salesforce shares worth approximately $14.4 million, making the stock its 24th-largest holding. Institutional investors collectively own 80.43% of Salesforce.
• Analyst sentiment remains broadly positive: Salesforce has a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating and an average price target of $275.14, despite some recent downgrades.
• Salesforce reported quarterly earnings of $5.90 per share, well above the $3.27 analyst consensus, while revenue rose 10.8% year over year to $11.35 billion. The company also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.44 per share, yielding 0.8% annually.

Cacti Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 64,070 shares of the CRM provider's stock, valued at approximately $14,436,000. Salesforce makes up approximately 0.8% of Cacti Asset Management LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th biggest holding.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 50,080,230 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $13,286,909,000 after buying an additional 659,573 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in Salesforce during the second quarter valued at approximately $11,396,844,000. Capital International Investors boosted its stake in Salesforce by 13.3% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 22,721,010 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $6,019,199,000 after acquiring an additional 2,669,891 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in Salesforce by 13.5% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 19,672,684 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $5,211,515,000 after acquiring an additional 2,347,478 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors grew its holdings in Salesforce by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 9,467,811 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $2,508,137,000 after purchasing an additional 226,013 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Salesforce

In related news, Director Craig Conway sold 4,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company's stock, valued at $1,416,936.57. This trade represents a 45.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director David Blair Kirk purchased 4,176 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, September 18th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $239.33 per share, with a total value of $999,442.08. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 18,748 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,486,958.84. This trade represents a 28.66% increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. 3.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CRM has been the subject of several analyst reports. HC Wainwright lowered Salesforce to a "negative" rating in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their target price on Salesforce from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Salesforce from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 27th. Wall Street Zen cut Salesforce from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 1st. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, August 27th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty have given a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $275.14.

Salesforce Stock Performance

Salesforce stock traded up $3.36 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $232.93. 3,663,437 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 13,891,379. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $219.02 and its 200-day moving average price is $191.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $191.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.23, a P/E/G ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.20. Salesforce Inc. has a 1 year low of $146.32 and a 1 year high of $269.11.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 26th. The CRM provider reported $5.90 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.33 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.91 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. 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 expect that Salesforce Inc. will post 12.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 8th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 17th will be given a dividend of $0.44 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 17th. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. Salesforce's payout ratio is currently 16.04%.

About Salesforce

Salesforce, Inc NYSE: CRM develops cloud-based customer relationship management (CRM) software and enterprise applications. Its platform helps organizations manage sales, customer service, marketing, commerce, analytics, data integration and collaboration through subscription-based services.

The company's product portfolio includes Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Marketing Cloud, Commerce Cloud, Salesforce Platform, Data Cloud and Tableau. Salesforce also offers MuleSoft integration technology, Slack collaboration software and artificial intelligence capabilities through its Einstein platform.

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