Salesforce Inc. $CRM Shares Sold by California Public Employees Retirement System

Key Points

• California Public Employees Retirement System cut its Salesforce stake by 25.8% in the first quarter, selling 745,310 shares and leaving it with 2,144,702 shares worth about $400.4 million.
• Salesforce reported strong quarterly results, with EPS of $3.88 versus $3.13 expected and revenue of $11.13 billion, up 13.3% year over year.
• Wall Street remains generally upbeat: the stock has a Moderate Buy consensus rating with an average price target of $254.42, even though a few analysts recently downgraded or turned more cautious.

California Public Employees Retirement System trimmed its holdings in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 25.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,144,702 shares of the CRM provider's stock after selling 745,310 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System owned about 0.26% of Salesforce worth $400,352,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Board of the Pension Protection Fund bought a new position in Salesforce during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Key Capital Management INC bought a new position in Salesforce during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Gilpin Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Salesforce during the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Finally, Legacy Bridge LLC acquired a new position in Salesforce during the 4th quarter worth $27,000. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Salesforce Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CRM opened at $171.20 on Friday. 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 firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $170.64 and a 200 day simple moving average of $191.20. The company has a market cap of $140.21 billion, a PE ratio of 19.82, a P/E/G ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 1.18.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 27th. The CRM provider reported $3.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.13 by $0.75. Salesforce had a net margin of 18.73% and a return on equity of 18.72%. The firm had revenue of $11.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $11.05 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.58 earnings per share. Salesforce's revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 14.060-14.120 EPS and its Q2 2027 guidance at 3.250-3.270 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Salesforce Inc. will post 10.29 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Investors of record on Thursday, June 11th were given a dividend of $0.44 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, June 11th. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. Salesforce's payout ratio is currently 20.37%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CRM has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler lowered shares of Salesforce from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. HSBC boosted their price objective on Salesforce from $350.00 to $356.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 29th. Roth Capital reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $325.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, May 28th. Finally, HC Wainwright lowered Salesforce to a "negative" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus 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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