Fifth Third Bancorp Trims Holdings in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Fifth Third Bancorp trimmed its stake in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 3.2% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 229,488 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 7,637 shares during the quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $60,794,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in CRM. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Salesforce by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 89,843,166 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $23,800,353,000 after buying an additional 270,913 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 0.3% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 49,420,657 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $11,732,966,000 after buying an additional 159,739 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its position in shares of Salesforce by 9.4% in the third quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 20,051,119 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $4,753,519,000 after acquiring an additional 1,729,440 shares during the period. Capital World Investors grew its stake in Salesforce by 159.0% during the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 17,325,206 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $4,106,255,000 after acquiring an additional 10,636,161 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in Salesforce by 11.8% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 7,155,512 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,695,856,000 after acquiring an additional 754,116 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Stock Down 2.6%

Shares of NYSE:CRM opened at $176.45 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $144.37 billion, a PE ratio of 22.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.76. Salesforce Inc. has a 52-week low of $163.52 and a 52-week high of $296.05. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $186.67 and a 200 day moving average of $220.45.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.05 by $0.76. Salesforce had a return on equity of 15.38% and a net margin of 17.96%.The firm had revenue of $11.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.18 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.78 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 13.110-13.190 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 3.110-3.130 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Salesforce Inc. will post 9.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Monday, March 16th that authorizes the company to buyback $25.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the CRM provider to reacquire up to 14.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 9th were paid a $0.44 dividend. This is an increase from Salesforce’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 9th. Salesforce’s payout ratio is currently 22.54%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Salesforce news, Director Laura Alber purchased 2,571 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 19th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $194.58 per share, with a total value of $500,265.18. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 9,530 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,854,347.40. The trade was a 36.94% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director David Blair Kirk bought 2,570 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $194.62 per share, for a total transaction of $500,173.40. Following the acquisition, the director owned 13,689 shares in the company, valued at $2,664,153.18. The trade was a 23.11% increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. 3.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CRM has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. KeyCorp lowered their target price on shares of Salesforce from $400.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 24th. Roth Mkm decreased their price target on shares of Salesforce from $395.00 to $325.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 26th. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on Salesforce from $325.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Salesforce from $365.00 to $320.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their price target on Salesforce from $223.00 to $194.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have given a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $279.18.

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.