Salesforce Inc. $CRM Shares Sold by Bank of New York Mellon Corp

Key Points

• Bank of New York Mellon trimmed its Salesforce stake by 3.2% in the first quarter, though it still held nearly 6.0 million shares worth about $1.12 billion.
• Salesforce reported better-than-expected quarterly results, with EPS of $3.88 versus estimates of $3.13 and revenue of $11.13 billion, up 13.3% year over year.
• Analyst sentiment remains constructive overall: the stock has a Moderate Buy rating consensus and an average target price of $254.42, despite some recent target cuts and downgrades.

Bank of New York Mellon Corp lowered its position in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 3.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,988,247 shares of the CRM provider's stock after selling 198,621 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned about 0.73% of Salesforce worth $1,117,826,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of CRM. Three Seasons Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 625.8% in the 1st quarter. Three Seasons Wealth LLC now owns 7,802 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $1,456,000 after buying an additional 6,727 shares during the period. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Salesforce by 3.8% in the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 18,958 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $3,539,000 after acquiring an additional 691 shares during the period. Hudson Canyon Capital Management lifted its holdings in Salesforce by 16.5% in the first quarter. Hudson Canyon Capital Management now owns 9,150 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $1,708,000 after acquiring an additional 1,295 shares during the period. Vienna Powszechne Towarzystwo Emerytalne S.A. Vienna Insurance Group purchased a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the 1st quarter worth $9,707,000. Finally, Mandatum Life Insurance Co Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce during the 1st quarter worth $3,003,000. 80.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Salesforce Stock Performance

NYSE CRM opened at $167.32 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. Salesforce Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $146.32 and a fifty-two week high of $274.00. The business has a fifty day moving average of $171.12 and a 200-day moving average of $191.99. The stock has a market cap of $137.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 1.18.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 27th. The CRM provider reported $3.88 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.13 by $0.75. Salesforce had a return on equity of 18.72% and a net margin of 18.73%.The business had revenue of $11.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.05 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.58 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 14.060-14.120 EPS and its Q2 2027 guidance at 3.250-3.270 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Salesforce Inc. will post 10.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Investors of record on Thursday, June 11th were paid a dividend of $0.44 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 11th. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.1%. Salesforce's dividend payout ratio is presently 20.37%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on CRM shares. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $225.00 to $215.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 28th. HC Wainwright cut Salesforce to a "negative" rating in a report on Thursday, June 18th. UBS Group initiated coverage on Salesforce in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. They set an "overweight" rating for the company. KeyCorp lowered Salesforce from an "overweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Salesforce from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, June 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have given a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $254.42.

Salesforce Profile

Salesforce, founded in 1999 and headquartered in San Francisco, is a global provider of cloud-based software focused on customer relationship management (CRM) and enterprise applications. The company popularized the software-as-a-service (SaaS) model for CRM and has built a broad portfolio of products designed to help organizations manage sales, service, marketing, commerce and analytics through a unified, cloud-first platform.

Core offerings include Sales Cloud for sales automation, Service Cloud for customer support, Marketing Cloud for digital marketing and engagement, and Commerce Cloud for e-commerce.

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