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Financiere des Professionnels Fonds d investissement inc. Sells 6,927 Shares of Salesforce Inc. $CRM

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Key Points

  • Financiere des Professionnels Fonds d investissement inc. reduced its Salesforce stake by 16.8% in the fourth quarter, selling 6,927 shares and leaving it with 34,366 shares worth about $9.1 million.
  • Institutional ownership in Salesforce remains high at 80.43%, with other large investors such as Norges Bank, Capital World Investors, and Capital International Investors also making major moves in the stock.
  • Salesforce recently beat quarterly expectations, reporting $3.88 EPS on $11.13 billion in revenue, while analysts currently maintain a Moderate Buy consensus and a target price of $259.26.
  • Five stocks we like better than Salesforce.

Financiere des Professionnels Fonds d investissement inc. lowered its stake in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 16.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 34,366 shares of the CRM provider's stock after selling 6,927 shares during the quarter. Financiere des Professionnels Fonds d investissement inc.'s holdings in Salesforce were worth $9,104,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CRM. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Salesforce during the fourth quarter valued at about $3,182,951,000. Capital World Investors boosted its position in Salesforce by 159.0% during the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 17,325,206 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $4,106,255,000 after purchasing an additional 10,636,161 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its position in Salesforce by 13.3% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 22,721,010 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $6,019,199,000 after purchasing an additional 2,669,891 shares in the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Salesforce during the third quarter valued at about $484,852,000. Finally, Alyeska Investment Group L.P. boosted its position in Salesforce by 285.4% during the third quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 2,487,627 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $589,568,000 after purchasing an additional 1,842,117 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.43% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on CRM shares. Citigroup reaffirmed a "market outperform" rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. Mizuho reduced their price target on Salesforce from $280.00 to $265.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $281.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Barclays reduced their price target on Salesforce from $252.00 to $236.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have assigned a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $259.26.

Get Our Latest Stock Analysis on CRM

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Salesforce news, Director Laura Alber bought 2,571 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 19th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $194.58 per share, for a total transaction of $500,265.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 9,530 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,854,347.40. This trade represents a 36.94% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director David Blair Kirk bought 2,570 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $194.62 per share, with a total value of $500,173.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 13,689 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,664,153.18. This trade represents a 23.11% increase in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Insiders own 3.50% of the company's stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

Salesforce Stock Down 2.4%

Shares of CRM stock opened at $171.22 on Thursday. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $180.90 and its 200-day simple moving average is $207.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $140.23 billion, a PE ratio of 19.82, a P/E/G ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.16. Salesforce Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $163.52 and a fifty-two week high of $276.80.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last announced 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. 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%.The company's revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.58 earnings per share. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 14.060-14.120 EPS and its Q2 2027 guidance at 3.250-3.270 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Salesforce Inc. will post 10.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Investors of record on Thursday, June 11th will be given a dividend of $0.44 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 11th. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. Salesforce's payout ratio is currently 20.37%.

Salesforce announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Monday, March 16th that permits the company to buyback $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the CRM provider to reacquire up to 14.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Salesforce Profile

(Free Report)

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.

Read More

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).

Institutional Ownership by Quarter for Salesforce (NYSE:CRM)

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.

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