California State Teachers Retirement System Purchases 186,677,290 Shares of Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Key Points

• California State Teachers Retirement System increased its Salesforce stake by 186.7 million shares in the second quarter, bringing its holdings to 188.1 million shares, or approximately 22.97% of the company.
• Salesforce reported quarterly EPS of $5.90, exceeding estimates of $3.27, while revenue rose 10.8% year over year to $11.35 billion. Analysts maintain a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating with an average price target of $266.50.
• Salesforce declared a quarterly dividend of $0.44 per share, equivalent to an annualized $1.76 dividend and a 0.7% yield; shares recently traded near $259.39.

California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its holdings in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 13,260.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 188,085,056 shares of the CRM provider's stock after acquiring an additional 186,677,290 shares during the quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System owned approximately 22.97% of Salesforce worth $29,465,405,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the second quarter worth $11,396,844,000. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Salesforce by 1.3% in the fourth 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. J. Stern & Co. LLP raised its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 24,056.7% in the fourth quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 47,385,511 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $12,552,896,000 after buying an additional 47,189,352 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its position in Salesforce by 13.3% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 22,721,010 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $6,019,199,000 after buying an additional 2,669,891 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Salesforce by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 21,782,556 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $5,751,073,000 after buying an additional 791,345 shares in the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Salesforce Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of Salesforce stock opened at $259.39 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $193.90 and a 200 day simple moving average of $185.49. The stock has a market cap of $213.48 billion, a PE ratio of 23.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.20. 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.

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 company had revenue of $11.35 billion during 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 company's revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company 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. Research analysts predict that Salesforce Inc. will post 12.65 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Craig Conway sold 4,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $260.61, for a total value of $1,172,745.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 5,437 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,416,936.57. The trade was a 45.29% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 3.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CRM has been the subject of several research reports. Argus raised their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $290.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, August 31st. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on shares of Salesforce from $210.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 27th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Salesforce from $210.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, August 27th. Truist Financial restated a "buy" rating and issued a $300.00 price objective (up from $280.00) on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, August 27th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on Salesforce from $204.00 to $233.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, August 27th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have issued a Buy rating, fifteen have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $266.50.

Salesforce Company Profile

Salesforce, founded in 1999 and headquartered in San Francisco, is a global provider of cloud-based software focused on customer relationship management (CRM) and enterprise applications. The company popularized the software-as-a-service (SaaS) model for CRM and has built a broad portfolio of products designed to help organizations manage sales, service, marketing, commerce and analytics through a unified, cloud-first platform.

Core offerings include Sales Cloud for sales automation, Service Cloud for customer support, Marketing Cloud for digital marketing and engagement, and Commerce Cloud for e-commerce.

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.