Legacy Private Trust Co. Cuts Stock Position in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Key Points

• Legacy Private Trust Co. cut its Salesforce position by 45.9% in the third quarter, selling 3,648 shares and retaining 4,302 shares valued at approximately $988,000. Institutional investors collectively own 80.43% of Salesforce.
• Salesforce reported strong quarterly results, with earnings of $5.90 per share versus the $3.27 consensus estimate and revenue of $11.35 billion, up 10.8% year over year.
• Analysts maintain a generally positive outlook, with the stock carrying a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating and an average price target of $275.14; Salesforce also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.44 per share.

Legacy Private Trust Co. lessened its position in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 45.9% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,302 shares of the CRM provider's stock after selling 3,648 shares during the quarter. Legacy Private Trust Co.'s holdings in Salesforce were worth $988,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd now owns 683,790 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $181,143,000 after buying an additional 24,332 shares during the last quarter. Fluent Financial LLC purchased a new position in Salesforce in the 2nd quarter worth about $2,265,000. TAM Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the first quarter worth approximately $40,945,000. Secured Retirement Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce during the first quarter valued at approximately $1,004,000. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its holdings in Salesforce by 2.5% in the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 127,739 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $23,846,000 after purchasing an additional 3,125 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.43% of the company's stock.

Salesforce Stock Performance

CRM opened at $224.52 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 0.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $184.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.47, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a fifty day moving average of $224.01 and a 200 day moving average of $192.23. Salesforce Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $146.32 and a fifty-two week high of $269.11.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 26th. The CRM provider reported $5.90 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.27 by $2.63. The business had revenue of $11.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.33 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 21.99% and a return on equity of 24.90%. The business's revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $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. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Salesforce Inc. will post 12.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 8th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 17th will be given a $0.44 dividend. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 17th. Salesforce's payout ratio is currently 16.04%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CRM has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Salesforce in a report on Monday, September 21st. KeyCorp cut shares of Salesforce from an "overweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Guggenheim lifted their target price on Salesforce from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, September 17th. UBS Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Friday, September 11th. Finally, HC Wainwright downgraded shares of Salesforce to a "negative" rating in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty have given a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Salesforce has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $275.14.

Insider Buying and Selling at Salesforce

In related news, Director David Blair Kirk acquired 4,176 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 18th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $239.33 per share, with a total value of $999,442.08. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 18,748 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,486,958.84. This trade represents a 28.66% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Craig Conway sold 4,500 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $260.61, for a total value of $1,172,745.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 5,437 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,416,936.57. This trade represents a 45.29% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 3.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Salesforce

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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