D.A. Davidson & CO. Sells 18,653 Shares of Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Key Points

• D.A. Davidson & CO. reduced its Salesforce stake by 32.3% in the first quarter, selling 18,653 shares and leaving it with 39,088 shares valued at about $7.3 million.
• Salesforce reported strong quarterly results, posting EPS of $3.88 versus estimates of $3.13 and revenue of $11.13 billion, with revenue up 13.3% year over year.
• Analysts remain broadly positive on CRM, with a Moderate Buy consensus and an average price target of $254.42, though recent ratings have been mixed.

D.A. Davidson & CO. cut its holdings in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 32.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 39,088 shares of the CRM provider's stock after selling 18,653 shares during the quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO.'s holdings in Salesforce were worth $7,297,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in CRM. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC bought a new position in Salesforce in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Board of the Pension Protection Fund acquired a new position in Salesforce during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Key Capital Management INC bought a new position in Salesforce in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Gilpin Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Salesforce in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Finally, Legacy Bridge LLC bought a new position in Salesforce in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Institutional investors own 80.43% of the company's stock.

Salesforce Price Performance

Salesforce stock opened at $171.20 on Friday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $170.64 and a 200 day simple moving average of $191.20. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. The stock has a market cap of $140.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.82, a PEG ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 1.18. Salesforce Inc. has a 52 week low of $146.32 and a 52 week high of $274.00.

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

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 11th were paid a $0.44 dividend. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, June 11th. Salesforce's dividend payout ratio is presently 20.37%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on CRM shares. Susquehanna initiated coverage on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. They set a "neutral" rating for the company. HC Wainwright cut shares of Salesforce to a "negative" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Citizens Jmp reissued a "market outperform" rating and set a $315.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. B. Riley Financial upped their price target on shares of Salesforce from $205.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Salesforce from a "buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have given a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Salesforce presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $254.42.

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.

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