Collaborative Fund Advisors LLC Buys New Holdings in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Collaborative Fund Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund purchased 2,673 shares of the CRM provider’s stock, valued at approximately $614,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in shares of Salesforce in the 2nd quarter valued at $11,396,844,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its stake in Salesforce by 130.2% during the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 12,659,217 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $2,363,096,000 after acquiring an additional 7,160,302 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE raised its stake in Salesforce by 28.0% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 11,724,790 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $2,188,666,000 after acquiring an additional 2,561,923 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc bought a new position in shares of Salesforce in the second quarter worth about $927,332,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in shares of Salesforce in the second quarter worth about $844,928,000. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Salesforce Price Performance

Salesforce stock opened at $227.22 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $239.96 and its 200 day moving average is $198.69. Salesforce Inc. has a one year low of $146.32 and a one year high of $269.11. The firm has a market cap of $187.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.45, a P/E/G ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.84.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 26th. The CRM provider reported $5.90 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.27 by $2.63. Salesforce had a net margin of 21.99% and a return on equity of 24.90%. The company had revenue of $11.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.33 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.91 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 16.670-16.710 EPS and its Q3 2027 guidance at 3.420-3.440 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Salesforce Inc. will post 12.82 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 8th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 17th were given a dividend of $0.44 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 17th. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is 16.04%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. Guggenheim raised their target price on shares of Salesforce from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 17th. Citizens Jmp reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $315.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a report on Friday, September 18th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $300.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Wednesday, October 21st. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Salesforce from $275.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $315.00 price objective on Salesforce in a research report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-two have assigned a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Salesforce has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $278.98.

Salesforce News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Zacks upgraded Salesforce to Rank #1, or “Strong Buy,” citing improving earnings prospects. Zacks upgrade
• Positive Sentiment: A historical review notes that after Salesforce shares previously fell at least 50% from a record high, they rose about 63% and 44% in the following years. Past performance does not guarantee a repeat. Historical performance analysis
• Neutral Sentiment: Salesforce agreed to acquire AI startup Cresta for about $2.7 billion, its fifth major acquisition this year. The deal could expand its AI capabilities, though the pace of acquisitions raises questions about integration. Cresta acquisition announcement
• Negative Sentiment: S&P Global Ratings cut Salesforce’s credit rating to “A” from “A+,” citing acquisition spending and a $25 billion debt-financed share repurchase program. The agency said pro forma net debt-to-EBITDA exceeded its prior 2x downgrade threshold, highlighting increased financial risk. S&P rating downgrade report
• Negative Sentiment: ETFs were net sellers of $15.2 million in Salesforce shares on Nov. 2, a modest potential source of selling pressure. ETF flows report

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Salesforce news, Director Craig Conway sold 4,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $260.61, for a total transaction of $1,172,745.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 5,437 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,416,936.57. This trade represents a 45.29% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director David Blair Kirk purchased 4,176 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 18th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $239.33 per share, with a total value of $999,442.08. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 18,748 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,486,958.84. This trade represents a 28.66% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 3.50% of the company’s stock.

About Salesforce

Salesforce, Inc (NYSE: CRM) is a global enterprise software company that provides cloud-based customer relationship management (CRM) technology. Its platform helps organizations manage sales, customer service, marketing, commerce, data, analytics and interactions with customers across digital and traditional channels.

The company’s products include Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Marketing Cloud, Commerce Cloud and Data Cloud. Salesforce also offers Tableau for data visualization and analytics, MuleSoft for application integration, and Slack for workplace collaboration.