Chiron Capital Management LLC Sells 5,100 Shares of Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Key Points

• Chiron Capital Management cut its Salesforce stake by 60.1% in the third quarter, selling 5,100 shares and retaining 3,391 shares valued at approximately $778,000.
• Salesforce shares rose 3.6% to $244.45, while the company reported quarterly EPS of $5.90, well above the $3.27 analyst consensus, and revenue of $11.35 billion.
• Analysts maintain a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating with an average price target of $278.12; Salesforce also pays a quarterly dividend of $0.44, yielding about 0.7%.

Chiron Capital Management LLC reduced its stake in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 60.1% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,391 shares of the CRM provider's stock after selling 5,100 shares during the quarter. Chiron Capital Management LLC's holdings in Salesforce were worth $778,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 59.2% during the 3rd quarter. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 5,632 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $1,293,000 after buying an additional 2,095 shares in the last quarter. WealthPlan Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the third quarter valued at about $408,000. Covenant Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 1.6% in the third quarter. Covenant Asset Management LLC now owns 6,162 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $1,415,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. B.A. Schrock Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in Salesforce during the 3rd quarter worth about $2,256,000. Finally, Howard Financial Services LTD. increased its position in Salesforce by 21.3% during the 3rd quarter. Howard Financial Services LTD. now owns 1,785 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $410,000 after purchasing an additional 314 shares during the period. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Salesforce Stock Up 3.6%

CRM traded up $8.50 during trading on Thursday, hitting $244.45. The stock had a trading volume of 4,412,376 shares, compared to its average volume of 13,552,994. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $229.31 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $194.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 0.84. Salesforce Inc. has a twelve month low of $146.32 and a twelve month high of $269.11. The company has a market capitalization of $201.18 billion, a PE ratio of 22.34, a PEG ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 1.26.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 26th. The CRM provider reported $5.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.27 by $2.63. The business had revenue of $11.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.33 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 24.90% and a net margin of 21.99%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.91 earnings per share. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 16.670-16.710 EPS and its Q3 2027 guidance at 3.420-3.440 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Salesforce Inc. will post 12.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 8th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 17th were paid a $0.44 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 17th. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. Salesforce's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.04%.

Insider Transactions at Salesforce

In other news, Director Craig Conway sold 4,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $260.61, for a total transaction of $1,172,745.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 5,437 shares in the company, valued at $1,416,936.57. This represents a 45.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director David Blair Kirk acquired 4,176 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the director directly owned 18,748 shares in the company, valued at $4,486,958.84. The trade was a 28.66% increase in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Company insiders own 3.50% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on CRM. UBS Group restated a "buy" rating on shares of Salesforce in a report on Friday, September 11th. Stephens reissued an "equal weight" rating and set a $289.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a report on Friday, September 18th. Scotiabank lowered shares of Salesforce from a "sector outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Raymond James Financial reissued a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, August 27th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their target price on Salesforce from $222.00 to $266.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, August 27th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-one have given a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $278.12.

Salesforce Company Profile

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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