World Investment Advisors Sells 3,349 Shares of Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Key Points

• World Investment Advisors trimmed its Salesforce stake by 4.6% in the first quarter, selling 3,349 shares and leaving it with 68,785 shares valued at about $12.84 million.
• 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.
• The company authorized a $25 billion share repurchase plan and pays a quarterly dividend of $0.44 per share, while analysts currently view the stock as a Moderate Buy with an average target price of $254.42.

World Investment Advisors reduced its holdings in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 4.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 68,785 shares of the CRM provider's stock after selling 3,349 shares during the quarter. World Investment Advisors' holdings in Salesforce were worth $12,840,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CRM. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd lifted its position in Salesforce by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd now owns 683,790 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $181,143,000 after acquiring an additional 24,332 shares during the last quarter. SFE Investment Counsel grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 82.7% in the fourth quarter. SFE Investment Counsel now owns 17,394 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $4,608,000 after purchasing an additional 7,871 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 8.9% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,299,513 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $307,984,000 after purchasing an additional 106,107 shares during the last quarter. Eminence Capital LP increased its stake in shares of Salesforce by 5.6% during the third quarter. Eminence Capital LP now owns 830,536 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $196,837,000 after purchasing an additional 43,888 shares during the period. Finally, Secured Retirement Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Salesforce during the first quarter worth approximately $1,004,000. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Salesforce Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CRM opened at $165.94 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $173.23 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $197.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $135.90 billion, a PE ratio of 19.21, a P/E/G ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.79. Salesforce Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $146.32 and a fifty-two week high of $276.80.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 27th. The CRM provider reported $3.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.13 by $0.75. Salesforce had a return on equity of 18.72% and a net margin of 18.73%.The company had revenue of $11.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.05 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.58 EPS. Salesforce's quarterly 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. As a group, equities analysts predict that Salesforce Inc. will post 10.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Monday, March 16th that permits the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the CRM provider to purchase up to 14.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often a sign that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently issued reports on CRM shares. Susquehanna began coverage on Salesforce in a research note on Wednesday. They issued a "neutral" rating for the company. DA Davidson dropped their target price on Salesforce from $200.00 to $175.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 28th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Salesforce from $210.00 to $200.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. Piper Sandler downgraded shares of Salesforce from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have assigned a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Salesforce presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $254.42.

About Salesforce

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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