Eastern Bank Cuts Stock Holdings in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Eastern Bank trimmed its holdings in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 69.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 19,333 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 43,054 shares during the period. Eastern Bank’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $5,272,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Aberdeen Group plc boosted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 6.9% during the second quarter. Aberdeen Group plc now owns 1,108,492 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $301,898,000 after purchasing an additional 72,010 shares during the period. Pinnacle West Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 4.8% during the second quarter. Pinnacle West Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,205 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $329,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the period. Agate Pass Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 28.4% during the second quarter. Agate Pass Investment Management LLC now owns 11,022 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $3,006,000 after purchasing an additional 2,437 shares during the period. Zullo Investment Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 7.3% during the second quarter. Zullo Investment Group Inc. now owns 2,829 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $772,000 after purchasing an additional 192 shares during the period. Finally, JFS Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 8.7% during the second quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 552 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $150,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the period. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Salesforce

In other news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 2,250 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $239.79, for a total value of $539,527.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 11,911,571 shares in the company, valued at $2,856,275,610.09. The trade was a 0.02% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 78,750 shares of company stock valued at $19,634,805. Insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE CRM opened at $242.11 on Friday. 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 company has a market cap of $230.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.19, a P/E/G ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 1.19. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $244.68 and its two-hundred day moving average is $258.93. Salesforce Inc. has a 52-week low of $226.48 and a 52-week high of $369.00.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 3rd. The CRM provider reported $2.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.78 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $10.24 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.14 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 16.87% and a return on equity of 13.27%. Salesforce’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.56 EPS. Salesforce has set its FY 2026 guidance at 11.330-11.370 EPS. Q3 2026 guidance at 2.840-2.860 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 17th were issued a $0.416 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 17th. This represents a $1.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Salesforce’s payout ratio is 24.13%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on CRM. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Salesforce from $300.00 to $260.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 18th. Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their price target on shares of Salesforce from $255.00 to $221.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 4th. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price target on shares of Salesforce from $275.00 to $250.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 4th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Salesforce from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday. Finally, JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $430.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a report on Tuesday, September 2nd. Twenty-six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $331.89.

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.