Virtus Advisers LLC Has $67,000 Stock Position in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Key Points

• Virtus Advisers LLC significantly reduced its stake in Salesforce Inc. by 93.7%, now holding only 248 shares valued at $67,000.
• Salesforce's quarterly earnings exceeded expectations with an EPS of $2.58, alongside revenues of $9.83 billion, a 7.6% increase year-over-year.
• Salesforce's stock has a current target price consensus of $344.05, with ratings ranging from Strong Buy to Sell among analysts.

Virtus Advisers LLC reduced its position in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 93.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 248 shares of the CRM provider's stock after selling 3,665 shares during the quarter. Virtus Advisers LLC's holdings in Salesforce were worth $67,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Coign Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in Salesforce by 1.7% in 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. increased its stake in shares of Salesforce by 1.1% in the first quarter. Staley Capital Advisers Inc. now owns 3,343 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $897,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the period. Liberty One Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Salesforce by 1.2% in the first quarter. Liberty One Investment Management LLC now owns 3,165 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $849,000 after buying an additional 39 shares during the period. First Command Advisory Services Inc. increased its stake in shares of Salesforce by 7.3% in the first quarter. First Command Advisory Services Inc. now owns 572 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $154,000 after buying an additional 39 shares during the period. Finally, Mendel Money Management grew its stake in shares of Salesforce by 3.6% in the first quarter. Mendel Money Management now owns 1,112 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $298,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CRM has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Erste Group Bank cut Salesforce from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, June 5th. Westpark Capital restated a "buy" rating and set a $320.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. Morgan Stanley restated an "overweight" rating and set a $404.00 target price (up previously from $393.00) on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, May 29th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $370.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Tuesday, June 10th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald downgraded Salesforce from an "overweight" rating to a "cautious" rating in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have given a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Salesforce has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $344.05.

Salesforce Trading Down 0.2%

NYSE CRM opened at $247.75 on Tuesday. Salesforce Inc. has a 12 month low of $226.48 and a 12 month high of $369.00. The stock has a market cap of $236.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.77, a P/E/G ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.37. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $258.06 and its 200-day moving average price is $270.96. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 28th. The CRM provider reported $2.58 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.55 by $0.03. Salesforce had a return on equity of 12.94% and a net margin of 16.08%.The firm had revenue of $9.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $9.74 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.44 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. Salesforce has set its FY 2026 guidance at 11.270-11.330 EPS. Q2 2026 guidance at 2.760-2.780 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 10th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 18th were given a dividend of $0.416 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 18th. This represents a $1.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Salesforce's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.98%.

Insider Activity at Salesforce

In related news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 2,250 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $247.67, for a total transaction of $557,257.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 11,911,571 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,950,138,789.57. This trade represents a 0.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders sold 54,827 shares of company stock worth $14,085,446 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 3.00% of the company's stock.

Salesforce 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.

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