UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp Purchases 8,171 Shares of Salesforce Inc. $CRM

UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp raised its position in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 16.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 59,247 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after buying an additional 8,171 shares during the quarter. Salesforce comprises about 0.8% of UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 28th largest holding. UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $14,041,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Kingdom Financial Group LLC. acquired a new stake in Salesforce in the third quarter valued at approximately $206,000. Northstar Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Northstar Asset Management Inc. now owns 32,971 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $7,814,000 after purchasing an additional 230 shares during the last quarter. Coign Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 16.6% during the 3rd quarter. Coign Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,601 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $616,000 after purchasing an additional 370 shares during the last quarter. Facet Wealth Inc. boosted its position in shares of Salesforce by 28.1% in the 3rd quarter. Facet Wealth Inc. now owns 1,642 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $389,000 after purchasing an additional 360 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Proem Advisors LLC grew its stake in Salesforce by 127.6% during the 3rd quarter. Proem Advisors LLC now owns 39,836 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $9,441,000 after buying an additional 22,336 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Trading Up 3.0%

Shares of Salesforce stock opened at $228.19 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $213.81 billion, a PE ratio of 30.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.26. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $247.86 and a 200 day moving average price of $249.30. Salesforce Inc. has a 1 year low of $218.96 and a 1 year high of $367.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 3rd. The CRM provider reported $3.25 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.41 earnings per share. Salesforce has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.020-3.040 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared 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 0.7%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 18th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 22.16%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Parker Harris sold 134,662 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $234.70, for a total transaction of $31,605,171.40. Following the sale, the insider owned 139,767 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $32,803,314.90. This trade represents a 49.07% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director David Blair Kirk bought 1,936 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 17th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $258.64 per share, with a total value of $500,727.04. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 10,677 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,761,499.28. This represents a 22.15% increase in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 145,427 shares of company stock valued at $34,290,361 in the last three months. 3.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on Salesforce from $325.00 to $315.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $280.00 to $275.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 4th. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $260.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. Macquarie raised their price target on shares of Salesforce from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, December 4th. Finally, Oppenheimer dropped their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $315.00 to $300.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have given a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $324.51.

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.