Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Key Points

• Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. decreased its stake in Salesforce Inc. by 65.9% in the second quarter, selling 37,593 shares to hold 19,451 shares valued at approximately $5.3 million.
• Equities research analysts have given Salesforce a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" with a price target of $325.23, highlighting some analysts reducing their targets while others maintain an optimistic outlook.
• CEO Marc Benioff sold 2,250 shares of Salesforce stock, decreasing his ownership slightly, while insiders have sold a total of 78,750 shares worth $19.4 million over the last quarter.

Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 65.9% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 19,451 shares of the CRM provider's stock after selling 37,593 shares during the quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc.'s holdings in Salesforce were worth $5,304,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in CRM. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the 1st quarter worth $2,039,196,000. Longview Partners Guernsey LTD purchased a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the 1st quarter worth $467,944,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Salesforce by 1,744.0% in the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,820,262 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $488,486,000 after buying an additional 1,721,550 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Salesforce by 1.6% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 87,913,628 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $23,592,501,000 after buying an additional 1,383,942 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Salesforce in the first quarter valued at about $345,100,000. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on Salesforce from $365.00 to $325.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 4th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Salesforce from $404.00 to $405.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 2nd. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price target on Salesforce from $275.00 to $250.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price target on Salesforce from $400.00 to $340.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 4th. Finally, Roth Capital reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $395.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, September 4th. Twenty-five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $325.23.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 2,250 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $252.28, for a total transaction of $567,630.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 11,911,571 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,005,051,131.88. This trade represents a 0.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders sold 78,750 shares of company stock worth $19,448,213 over the last quarter. 3.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Salesforce Stock Up 3.6%

Shares of CRM stock opened at $263.51 on Wednesday. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $245.46 and its 200-day simple moving average is $257.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $250.86 billion, a PE ratio of 38.30, a P/E/G ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 1.19. Salesforce Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $226.48 and a fifty-two week high of $369.00.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, September 3rd. The CRM provider reported $2.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.78 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $10.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.14 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 13.27% and a net margin of 16.87%.The company's revenue was up 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.56 earnings per share. Salesforce has set its FY 2026 guidance at 11.330-11.370 EPS. Q3 2026 guidance at 2.840-2.860 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 9th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 17th were issued a dividend of $0.416 per share. This represents a $1.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 17th. Salesforce's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.13%.

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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