Salesforce Inc. $CRM Shares Sold by Fifth Third Bancorp

Key Points

• Fifth Third Bancorp reduced its Salesforce stake by 8.6% in the third quarter, selling 26,062 shares and retaining 275,819 shares valued at about $63.3 million. Institutional investors collectively own 80.43% of Salesforce.
• Analysts’ average rating is “Moderate Buy,” with an average price target of $278.98; ratings include 4 Strong Buys, 32 Buys, 13 Holds and 3 Sells.
• Salesforce’s latest reported quarter beat earnings expectations, posting $5.90 per share versus a $3.27 consensus estimate, while revenue of $11.35 billion was up 10.8% year over year.

Fifth Third Bancorp cut its holdings in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 8.6% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 275,819 shares of the CRM provider's stock after selling 26,062 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp's holdings in Salesforce were worth $63,320,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Three Bridge Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Salesforce in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $129,000. CFM Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Salesforce in the third quarter valued at approximately $274,000. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System raised its position in Salesforce by 13.3% in the third quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System now owns 48,789 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $11,200,000 after purchasing an additional 5,728 shares during the period. Ritholtz Wealth Management lifted its stake in Salesforce by 51.4% during the third quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 22,990 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $5,278,000 after purchasing an additional 7,808 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp lifted its stake in Salesforce by 5.6% during the third quarter. UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp now owns 58,674 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $13,470,000 after purchasing an additional 3,098 shares in 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 equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Zacks Research raised Salesforce from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 3rd. Freedom Broker boosted their price objective on Salesforce from $230.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, September 17th. Citigroup reissued a "market outperform" rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Tuesday, October 20th. Needham & Company LLC restated a "buy" rating on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, September 17th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Tuesday, October 20th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-two have assigned a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Salesforce presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $278.98.

Insider Buying and Selling at Salesforce

In other news, Director Craig Conway sold 4,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $260.61, for a total transaction of $1,172,745.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 5,437 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,416,936.57. This represents a 45.29% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director David Blair Kirk acquired 4,176 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 18th. The stock was acquired at an average price 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 approximately $4,486,958.84. The trade was a 28.66% increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Corporate insiders own 3.50% of the company's stock.

Salesforce Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of Salesforce stock opened at $217.38 on Friday. Salesforce Inc. has a 52-week low of $146.32 and a 52-week high of $269.11. The company has a 50 day moving average of $236.19 and a 200 day moving average of $198.42. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. The company has a market capitalization of $178.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.82, a P/E/G ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.24.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 26th. The CRM provider reported $5.90 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.27 by $2.63. Salesforce had a net margin of 21.99% and a return on equity of 24.90%. The company had revenue of $11.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.33 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.91 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 16.670-16.710 EPS and its Q3 2027 guidance at 3.420-3.440 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Salesforce Inc. will post 12.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

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

Salesforce Company Profile

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.

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