Carmignac Gestion Purchases 4,107 Shares of Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Key Points

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Carmignac Gestion lifted its stake in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 87.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,792 shares of the CRM provider's stock after buying an additional 4,107 shares during the period. Carmignac Gestion's holdings in Salesforce were worth $2,359,000 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 CRM. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Salesforce during the 1st quarter valued at $2,039,196,000. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main grew its stake in shares of Salesforce by 926.4% during the fourth quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 4,256,211 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $1,422,979,000 after purchasing an additional 3,841,521 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Salesforce by 30,456.9% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,801,588 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $1,020,194,000 after purchasing an additional 3,789,147 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of Salesforce by 18.3% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 11,224,927 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $3,752,830,000 after purchasing an additional 1,736,667 shares during the period. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Salesforce by 1,744.0% in the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,820,262 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $488,486,000 after acquiring an additional 1,721,550 shares during the period. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have issued reports on CRM. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $400.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. Cantor Fitzgerald lowered Salesforce from an "overweight" rating to a "cautious" rating in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on Salesforce from $375.00 to $325.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. DA Davidson raised Salesforce from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $225.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 15th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on Salesforce from $350.00 to $335.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have assigned a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $342.89.

Insider Buying and Selling at Salesforce

In other news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 2,250 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $257.02, for a total transaction of $578,295.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 11,911,571 shares in the company, valued at $3,061,511,978.42. This trade represents a 0.02% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 52,577 shares of company stock worth $13,528,188. Company insiders own 3.00% of the company's stock.

Salesforce Stock Performance

CRM stock traded up $2.1850 on Friday, hitting $248.0150. The company had a trading volume of 6,688,139 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,236,700. Salesforce Inc. has a 12-month low of $226.48 and a 12-month high of $369.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $258.58 and its 200 day simple moving average is $273.10. The stock has a market cap of $237.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.81, a P/E/G ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.37.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 28th. The CRM provider reported $2.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.55 by $0.03. Salesforce had a net margin of 16.08% and a return on equity of 12.94%. The company had revenue of $9.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $9.74 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.44 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. Salesforce has set its FY 2026 guidance at 11.270-11.330 EPS. Q2 2026 guidance at 2.760-2.780 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 10th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 18th were paid a dividend of $0.416 per share. This represents a $1.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 18th. Salesforce's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 25.98%.

About Salesforce

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.