Kennon Green & Company LLC Makes New $5.54 Million Investment in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Key Points

• Kennon Green & Company initiated a Salesforce position worth approximately $5.54 million, acquiring 24,147 shares that now represent about 4.4% of its portfolio. Institutional investors collectively own 80.43% of Salesforce.
• Salesforce reported quarterly EPS of $5.90, exceeding estimates of $3.27, while revenue reached $11.35 billion and rose 10.8% year over year. The company also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.44 per share, yielding approximately 0.8% annually.
• Wall Street maintains a generally positive outlook, with a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $275.14; Salesforce shares recently traded at $229.62.

Kennon Green & Company LLC bought a new position in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 24,147 shares of the CRM provider's stock, valued at approximately $5,543,000. Salesforce makes up about 4.4% of Kennon Green & Company LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest position.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Gunpowder Capital Management LLC dba Oliver Wealth Management acquired a new stake in Salesforce in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Abound Financial LLC purchased a new position in Salesforce in the fourth quarter worth approximately $38,000. Costello Asset Management INC lifted its stake in Salesforce by 410.3% in the first quarter. Costello Asset Management INC now owns 148 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 119 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ABS Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Salesforce during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $610,974,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company's stock.

Salesforce Stock Performance

Shares of Salesforce stock traded down $5.07 on Monday, hitting $229.62. The stock had a trading volume of 6,364,290 shares, compared to its average volume of 13,852,532. The stock has a market cap of $188.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a current ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. Salesforce Inc. has a 52-week low of $146.32 and a 52-week high of $269.11. The company's 50 day moving average price is $222.02 and its 200 day moving average price is $191.78.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last released 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 firm 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 firm's quarterly revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.91 EPS. 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 anticipate that Salesforce Inc. will post 12.82 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 8th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 17th will be issued a $0.44 dividend. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 17th. Salesforce's payout ratio is presently 16.04%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on CRM. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, September 18th. Sanford C. Bernstein restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, August 27th. Citigroup reaffirmed a "market outperform" rating on shares of Salesforce in a report on Friday, September 18th. Phillip Securities cut Salesforce from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $253.00 to $166.00 in a research report on Monday, June 29th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Salesforce in a report on Monday, September 21st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty have issued a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $275.14.

Insider Buying and Selling at Salesforce

In other Salesforce news, Director David Blair Kirk purchased 4,176 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 18th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $239.33 per share, for a total transaction of $999,442.08. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 18,748 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,486,958.84. This trade represents a 28.66% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Craig Conway sold 4,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $260.61, for a total transaction of $1,172,745.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 5,437 shares in the company, valued at $1,416,936.57. The trade was a 45.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 3.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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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