Arete Wealth Advisors LLC Has $3.01 Million Stock Holdings in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Key Points

• Arete Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Salesforce Inc. by 113.4% in Q1, now holding 11,302 shares valued at approximately $3 million.
• Salesforce recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.416 per share, with a yield of 0.7% and a payout ratio of 24.13%.
• CEO Marc Benioff sold 2,250 shares for approximately $578,295, reducing his ownership by 0.02% while still retaining over 11.9 million shares.

Arete Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 113.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 11,302 shares of the CRM provider's stock after purchasing an additional 6,005 shares during the quarter. Arete Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings in Salesforce were worth $3,012,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of CRM. Coign Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in Salesforce by 1.7% during the first quarter. Coign Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,183 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $586,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Staley Capital Advisers Inc. boosted its position in Salesforce by 1.1% during the first quarter. Staley Capital Advisers Inc. now owns 3,343 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $897,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. KDT Advisors LLC boosted its position in Salesforce by 4.1% during the first quarter. KDT Advisors LLC now owns 967 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $260,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Liberty One Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Salesforce by 1.2% during the first quarter. Liberty One Investment Management LLC now owns 3,165 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $849,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Command Advisory Services Inc. boosted its position in Salesforce by 7.3% during the first quarter. First Command Advisory Services Inc. now owns 572 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $154,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Macquarie reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $290.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, September 4th. Oppenheimer reduced their price target on Salesforce from $370.00 to $315.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 26th. Canaccord Genuity Group reduced their price target on Salesforce from $350.00 to $300.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 4th. KeyCorp reduced their price target on Salesforce from $440.00 to $400.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 4th. Finally, Stephens cut their price objective on Salesforce from $311.00 to $309.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have assigned a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $332.58.

Salesforce Stock Performance

CRM traded down $4.05 on Friday, hitting $242.23. 4,746,765 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,537,415. Salesforce Inc. has a 52 week low of $226.48 and a 52 week high of $369.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $230.60 billion, a PE ratio of 35.20, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.22. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $253.79 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $265.23.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last released 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.14 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.56 EPS. The company's revenue 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. On average, research analysts predict that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity at Salesforce

In other news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 2,250 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 11,911,571 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,938,108,102.86. The trade was a 0.02% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director David Blair Kirk bought 3,400 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 9th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $254.66 per share, for a total transaction of $865,844.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 3,824 shares in the company, valued at $973,819.84. This represents a 801.89% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 70,577 shares of company stock worth $18,005,778. Corporate insiders own 3.00% of the company's stock.

Salesforce Company 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.