Salesforce Inc. $CRM Shares Sold by Kentucky Retirement Systems

Kentucky Retirement Systems trimmed its stake in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 21.9% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 45,802 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 12,818 shares during the period. Kentucky Retirement Systems’ holdings in Salesforce were worth $8,550,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in CRM. Fred Alger Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Salesforce by 0.3% during the third quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 14,943 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $3,548,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the period. Richards Merrill & Peterson Inc. raised its holdings in Salesforce by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Richards Merrill & Peterson Inc. now owns 4,239 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,123,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. Wright Investors Service Inc. lifted its position in Salesforce by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Wright Investors Service Inc. now owns 6,186 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,639,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares during the period. Shum Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Salesforce by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Shum Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,236 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,122,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Salesforce by 6.9% during the 4th quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC now owns 745 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $197,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CRM has been the topic of several research analyst reports. HC Wainwright cut Salesforce to a “negative” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Salesforce in a report on Thursday, June 18th. They issued a “neutral” rating for the company. Wall Street Zen raised Salesforce from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, June 6th. Susquehanna started coverage on Salesforce in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. They set a “neutral” rating on the stock. Finally, Guggenheim upgraded shares of Salesforce from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $228.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-four have given a Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $249.51.

Salesforce Price Performance

NYSE CRM opened at $188.69 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $154.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.84, a P/E/G ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.18. Salesforce Inc. has a 1 year low of $146.32 and a 1 year high of $269.11. The business’s fifty day moving average is $170.17 and its two-hundred day moving average is $185.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 27th. The CRM provider reported $3.88 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.13 by $0.75. The company had revenue of $11.13 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.05 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 18.72% and a net margin of 18.73%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.58 EPS. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 14.060-14.120 EPS and its Q2 2027 guidance at 3.250-3.270 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Salesforce Inc. will post 10.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 11th were issued a dividend of $0.44 per share. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 11th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.37%.

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.