Plato Investment Management Ltd Sells 3,893 Shares of Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Key Points

• Plato Investment Management Ltd has reduced its stake in Salesforce Inc. by 12.7%, now holding 26,833 shares, which constitutes approximately 0.6% of its investment portfolio.
• Salesforce's latest quarterly earnings report shows a revenue of $10.24 billion and earnings per share of $2.91, surpassing analysts' expectations.
• The company plans to pay a quarterly dividend of $0.416 on October 9th, with a projected annualized yield of 0.7%.

Plato Investment Management Ltd cut its stake in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 12.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 26,833 shares of the CRM provider's stock after selling 3,893 shares during the quarter. Salesforce makes up 0.6% of Plato Investment Management Ltd's portfolio, making the stock its 28th biggest holding. Plato Investment Management Ltd's holdings in Salesforce were worth $7,279,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. acquired a new position in Salesforce in the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. Wood Tarver Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Salesforce in the fourth quarter worth $35,000. Capital A Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Salesforce by 450.0% in the first quarter. Capital A Wealth Management LLC now owns 110 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC increased its position in Salesforce by 314.8% during the first quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 112 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Abound Financial LLC bought a new position in Salesforce during the first quarter valued at about $31,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on Salesforce from $335.00 to $280.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 4th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $400.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, September 4th. Mizuho dropped their price target on shares of Salesforce from $425.00 to $380.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Oppenheimer dropped their price target on shares of Salesforce from $370.00 to $315.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, August 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Salesforce from $380.00 to $365.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have given a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $332.58.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director David Blair Kirk bought 3,400 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 9th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $254.66 per share, with a total value of $865,844.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 3,824 shares in the company, valued at $973,819.84. This trade represents a 801.89% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Marc Benioff sold 2,250 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $246.66, for a total value of $554,985.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 11,911,571 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,938,108,102.86. This trade represents a 0.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 70,577 shares of company stock worth $18,005,778. 3.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Salesforce Stock Performance

Shares of CRM traded up $3.69 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $246.26. The company's stock had a trading volume of 6,940,645 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,011,086. Salesforce Inc. has a one year low of $226.48 and a one year high of $369.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $234.44 billion, a PE ratio of 35.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.22. The stock's 50-day moving average is $253.79 and its two-hundred day moving average is $265.23.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, September 3rd. The CRM provider reported $2.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.78 by $0.13. Salesforce had a return on equity of 13.27% and a net margin of 16.87%.The company had revenue of $10.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $10.14 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.56 earnings per share. Salesforce's revenue for the quarter was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Salesforce has set its FY 2026 guidance at 11.330-11.370 EPS. Q3 2026 guidance at 2.840-2.860 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 17th will be given a $0.416 dividend. This represents a $1.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 17th. Salesforce's dividend payout ratio is currently 24.13%.

Salesforce Profile

Salesforce, Inc provides Customer Relationship Management (CRM) technology that brings companies and customers together worldwide. The company's service includes sales to store data, monitor leads and progress, forecast opportunities, gain insights through analytics and artificial intelligence, and deliver quotes, contracts, and invoices; and service that enables companies to deliver trusted and highly personalized customer support at scale.