Copeland Capital Management LLC Sells 46,821 Shares of Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Key Points

• Copeland Capital Management sharply reduced its Salesforce stake in the first quarter, selling 46,821 shares and cutting its position by 92.6% to 3,719 shares valued at about $694,000.
• Salesforce’s latest earnings topped expectations, with quarterly EPS of $3.88 versus estimates of $3.13 and revenue of $11.13 billion, up 13.3% year over year.
• Wall Street remains broadly positive on the stock: analysts rate Salesforce Moderate Buy on average, with a consensus price target of $254.42 despite some mixed individual calls.

Copeland Capital Management LLC trimmed its position in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 92.6% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,719 shares of the CRM provider's stock after selling 46,821 shares during the period. Copeland Capital Management LLC's holdings in Salesforce were worth $694,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Byrne Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Salesforce by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC now owns 4,331 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $1,147,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC increased its position in Salesforce by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 14,943 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $3,548,000 after buying an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Pine Haven Investment Counsel Inc raised its stake in Salesforce by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Pine Haven Investment Counsel Inc now owns 3,152 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $835,000 after buying an additional 46 shares during the last quarter. Richards Merrill & Peterson Inc. raised its stake in Salesforce by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Richards Merrill & Peterson Inc. now owns 4,239 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $1,123,000 after buying an additional 46 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wright Investors Service Inc. boosted its holdings in Salesforce by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Wright Investors Service Inc. now owns 6,186 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $1,639,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CRM has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. TD Cowen restated a "buy" rating on shares of Salesforce in a report on Friday, June 12th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Salesforce from a "buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Wedbush assumed coverage on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. They set an "outperform" rating on the stock. Phillip Securities downgraded shares of Salesforce from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $253.00 to $166.00 in a research report on Monday, June 29th. Finally, HSBC upped their price target on shares of Salesforce from $350.00 to $356.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have issued a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Salesforce currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $254.42.

Salesforce Price Performance

NYSE:CRM opened at $171.20 on Friday. The firm's fifty day moving average is $170.64 and its two-hundred day moving average is $191.20. The firm has a market cap of $140.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.82, a PEG ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79. Salesforce Inc. has a one year low of $146.32 and a one year high of $274.00.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 27th. The CRM provider reported $3.88 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.13 by $0.75. Salesforce had a return on equity of 18.72% and a net margin of 18.73%.The business had revenue of $11.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.05 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.58 EPS. The company's revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 14.060-14.120 EPS and its Q2 2027 guidance at 3.250-3.270 EPS. Research analysts expect that Salesforce Inc. will post 10.29 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Investors of record on Thursday, June 11th were given a dividend of $0.44 per share. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, June 11th. Salesforce's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.37%.

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.

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.