Salesforce Inc. $CRM Shares Sold by Montaka Global Pty Ltd

Montaka Global Pty Ltd reduced its position in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 42.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 27,174 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 20,041 shares during the period. Salesforce comprises 2.5% of Montaka Global Pty Ltd’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest holding. Montaka Global Pty Ltd’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $6,238,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in Salesforce during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $11,396,844,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its position in Salesforce by 130.2% in the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 12,659,217 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,363,096,000 after acquiring an additional 7,160,302 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new position in shares of Salesforce during the second quarter valued at $1,914,086,000. Legal & General Group Plc bought a new position in shares of Salesforce during the second quarter valued at $927,332,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce during the second quarter worth $844,928,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director David Blair Kirk acquired 4,176 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 18th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $239.33 per share, for a total transaction of $999,442.08. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 18,748 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,486,958.84. This represents a 28.66% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Craig Conway sold 4,500 shares of Salesforce 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 represents a 45.29% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 3.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wall Street Zen lowered Salesforce from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Salesforce from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 27th. Bank of America raised Salesforce from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $160.00 to $285.00 in a research note on Monday, October 12th. KeyCorp began coverage on Salesforce in a research note on Monday, October 12th. They issued a “sector weight” rating for the company. Finally, CLSA initiated coverage on Salesforce in a research report on Monday, July 20th. They set a “hold” rating and a $165.00 price objective for the company. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-two have given a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $278.98.

Salesforce Stock Down 0.6%

Shares of NYSE CRM opened at $213.58 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. The firm has a market cap of $175.78 billion, a PE ratio of 19.47, a P/E/G ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.24. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $237.80 and its 200 day simple moving average is $198.53. Salesforce Inc. has a 12-month low of $146.32 and a 12-month high of $269.11.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 26th. The CRM provider reported $5.90 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.27 by $2.63. Salesforce had a return on equity of 24.90% and a net margin of 21.99%. The firm had revenue of $11.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.33 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.91 earnings per share. 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, sell-side analysts forecast that Salesforce Inc. will post 12.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 16.04%.

Salesforce Company Profile

Salesforce, Inc. is a cloud-based software company best known for customer relationship management (CRM) tools. Its platform helps businesses manage sales, customer service, marketing, commerce and customer data, and includes products such as Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Data Cloud and Agentforce. The company also offers Slack for workplace collaboration, Tableau for data analytics and visualization, and MuleSoft for connecting applications and data. Salesforce’s products are used by organizations across a range of industries and are available to customers around the world.