Salesforce Inc. $CRM Shares Acquired by Acadian Asset Management LLC

Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 31.6% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 107,844 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 25,882 shares during the quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $28,934,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of CRM. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce in the first quarter worth about $2,039,196,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 30,456.9% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,801,588 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,020,194,000 after acquiring an additional 3,789,147 shares in the last quarter. Longview Partners Guernsey LTD acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce in the first quarter worth about $467,944,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 1,744.0% in the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,820,262 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $488,486,000 after acquiring an additional 1,721,550 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Salesforce by 1.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 87,913,628 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $23,592,501,000 after buying an additional 1,383,942 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 2,250 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $257.02, for a total value of $578,295.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 11,911,571 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,061,511,978.42. This represents a 0.02% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director David Blair Kirk acquired 3,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 9th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $254.66 per share, with a total value of $865,844.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 3,824 shares in the company, valued at approximately $973,819.84. This represents a 801.89% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 68,327 shares of company stock valued at $17,450,793 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CRM has been the topic of several research reports. Citigroup upped their price objective on Salesforce from $275.00 to $276.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Salesforce from $404.00 to $405.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 2nd. Canaccord Genuity Group cut their price objective on Salesforce from $350.00 to $300.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 4th. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on Salesforce from $365.00 to $325.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 4th. Finally, KeyCorp cut their price objective on Salesforce from $440.00 to $400.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have issued a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $332.58.

Salesforce Stock Down 3.7%

NYSE:CRM opened at $242.62 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $230.98 billion, a PE ratio of 35.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.22. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $254.29 and a 200-day moving average of $265.66. Salesforce Inc. has a 52 week low of $226.48 and a 52 week high of $369.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, September 3rd. The CRM provider reported $2.91 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.78 by $0.13. The company 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 revenue was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.56 earnings per share. Salesforce has set its FY 2026 guidance at 11.330-11.370 EPS. Q3 2026 guidance at 2.840-2.860 EPS. Analysts predict that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 9th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 17th will be 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 of this dividend is Wednesday, September 17th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is 24.13%.

About Salesforce

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.