Salesforce Inc. $CRM Shares Bought by Fulcrum Asset Management LLP

Key Points

• Fulcrum Asset Management increased its Salesforce position by 2,894.9% in the third quarter, adding 22,349 shares to hold 23,121 shares valued at about $5.2 million.
• Analyst views were mostly positive: Salesforce had a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating and an average price target of $278.98, though Wells Fargo downgraded the stock to “Strong Sell.”
• In its latest reported quarter, Salesforce earned $5.90 per share, beating the $3.27 consensus estimate, while revenue of $11.35 billion was up 10.8% year over year.

Fulcrum Asset Management LLP increased its position in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 2,894.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 23,121 shares of the CRM provider's stock after purchasing an additional 22,349 shares during the period. Fulcrum Asset Management LLP's holdings in Salesforce were worth $5,209,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Latitude Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the 3rd quarter worth about $25,000. ABS Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the 2nd quarter worth $610,974,000. ABS Direct Equity Fund LLC bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the 2nd quarter worth $25,000. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the second quarter valued at about $26,000. Finally, Persistent Asset Partners Ltd purchased a new stake in Salesforce in the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CRM has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price target on Salesforce from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, September 17th. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of Salesforce from a "buy" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a report on Monday, October 12th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, September 17th. Argus raised their target price on Salesforce from $290.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, August 31st. Finally, Yorkville Ives initiated coverage on Salesforce in a research note on Monday, October 5th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $290.00 price objective on the stock. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-two have assigned a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $278.98.

Insider Activity at Salesforce

In other Salesforce news, Director Craig Conway sold 4,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 4th. The shares were 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. This trade represents a 45.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director David Blair Kirk bought 4,176 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 18th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $239.33 per share, for a total transaction of $999,442.08. Following the acquisition, the director owned 18,748 shares in the company, valued at $4,486,958.84. The trade was a 28.66% increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. 3.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Salesforce Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of CRM stock opened at $214.62 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $176.63 billion, a PE ratio of 19.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.24. Salesforce Inc. has a 52-week low of $146.32 and a 52-week high of $269.11. The business's fifty day moving average is $238.69 and its 200 day moving average is $198.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 0.84.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 26th. The CRM provider reported $5.90 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.27 by $2.63. The business had revenue of $11.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $11.33 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 24.90% and a net margin of 21.99%. The firm's revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.91 earnings per share. 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, equities research analysts anticipate that Salesforce Inc. will post 12.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 8th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 17th were paid a $0.44 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 17th. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. Salesforce's dividend payout ratio is currently 16.04%.

About Salesforce

Salesforce, Inc is a cloud-based software company best known for customer relationship management (CRM) tools. Its platform helps businesses manage sales, customer service, marketing, commerce and customer data, and includes products such as Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Data Cloud and Agentforce.

The company also offers Slack for workplace collaboration, Tableau for data analytics and visualization, and MuleSoft for connecting applications and data. Salesforce's products are used by organizations across a range of industries and are available to customers around the world.

Founded in 1999 by Marc Benioff and other co-founders, Salesforce is headquartered in San Francisco.

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).

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.