ZEGA Investments LLC Takes Position in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Key Points

• ZEGA Investments initiated a new position in Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) in Q3, buying 2,328 shares valued at about $552,000.
• Major institutional buying accelerated — including large stakes from Norges Bank, Laurel Wealth, Acadian and Amundi — leaving roughly 80.43% of the stock owned by hedge funds and other institutions.
• Notable insider activity: CEO Marc Benioff sold 2,250 shares (~$580,950), while director G. Mason Morfit purchased 96,000 shares for about $25.0 million, increasing his stake materially.

ZEGA Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 2,328 shares of the CRM provider's stock, valued at approximately $552,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of CRM. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Salesforce during the second quarter worth $2,826,049,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Salesforce by 27,361.5% during the second quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,424,169 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $933,737,000 after purchasing an additional 3,411,700 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Salesforce by 1,729.6% during the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 1,973,141 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $538,020,000 after acquiring an additional 1,865,297 shares in the last quarter. Amundi boosted its stake in Salesforce by 26.2% in the 2nd quarter. Amundi now owns 7,755,317 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $2,087,545,000 after purchasing an additional 1,612,413 shares during the period. Finally, Schroder Investment Management Group boosted its position in shares of Salesforce by 45.8% in the second quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 3,931,945 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $1,072,202,000 after acquiring an additional 1,234,969 shares during the period. 80.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Salesforce

In related news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 2,250 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $258.20, for a total value of $580,950.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 11,911,571 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,075,567,632.20. This represents a 0.02% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director G Mason Morfit acquired 96,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, December 5th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $260.58 per share, for a total transaction of $25,015,680.00. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 2,994,509 shares in the company, valued at $780,309,155.22. This represents a 3.31% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 152,784 shares of company stock valued at $36,173,287 in the last three months. 3.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Salesforce Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:CRM opened at $259.29 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $250.28 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $251.35. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. Salesforce Inc. has a 52 week low of $221.96 and a 52 week high of $367.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $242.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.62, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.26.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 3rd. The CRM provider reported $3.25 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.86 by $0.39. The company had revenue of $10.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.27 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 17.91% and a return on equity of 14.41%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.41 EPS. Salesforce has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.020-3.040 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 8th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 18th were given 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 Thursday, December 18th. Salesforce's dividend payout ratio is currently 22.16%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CRM has been the subject of several research reports. Piper Sandler reiterated an "overweight" rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. BTIG Research assumed coverage on shares of Salesforce in a report on Tuesday, December 16th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $335.00 price target on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on Salesforce from $250.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Monday, January 5th. Wedbush restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $375.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, December 4th. Finally, Cowen reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have given a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $326.50.

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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