Franklin Resources Inc. Has $1.92 Billion Stock Position in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 15.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 7,023,700 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after buying an additional 918,091 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $1,915,293,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Coign Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Salesforce by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. Coign Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,183 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $586,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Staley Capital Advisers Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 1.1% during the first quarter. Staley Capital Advisers Inc. now owns 3,343 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $897,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. KDT Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 4.1% during the first quarter. KDT Advisors LLC now owns 967 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $260,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Mendel Money Management increased 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 valued at $298,000 after buying an additional 39 shares during the period. Finally, Scott & Selber Inc. increased its stake in shares of Salesforce by 0.7% in the second quarter. Scott & Selber Inc. now owns 5,850 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,595,000 after buying an additional 39 shares during the period. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Salesforce

In other news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 2,250 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $245.09, for a total value of $551,452.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 11,911,571 shares in the company, valued at $2,919,406,936.39. The trade was a 0.02% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director David Blair Kirk bought 3,400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 9th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $254.66 per share, for a total transaction of $865,844.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 3,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $973,819.84. This represents a 801.89% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders sold 60,872 shares of company stock worth $15,058,156. Insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on CRM. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Monday. Canaccord Genuity Group dropped their price target on shares of Salesforce from $350.00 to $300.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 4th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Salesforce from $404.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 2nd. Northland Capmk cut shares of Salesforce from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Salesforce from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 8th. Twenty-five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $323.51.

Salesforce Stock Performance

Shares of CRM opened at $225.53 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $214.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 1.19. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $245.12 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $256.54. Salesforce Inc. has a 12 month low of $223.30 and a 12 month high of $369.00.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, September 3rd. The CRM provider reported $2.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.78 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $10.24 billion during 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 business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company 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 predict that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

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

Salesforce Company 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.