Cerity Partners LLC Buys 44,736 Shares of Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Cerity Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 7.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 654,015 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 44,736 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $178,352,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Dnca Finance boosted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 64.5% during the 2nd quarter. Dnca Finance now owns 34,700 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $9,462,000 after buying an additional 13,600 shares during the period. Ecofi Investissements SA boosted its holdings in Salesforce by 35.4% during the second quarter. Ecofi Investissements SA now owns 4,400 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,200,000 after acquiring an additional 1,150 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 74.7% in the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 694,543 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $189,395,000 after purchasing an additional 297,003 shares during the last quarter. Jump Financial LLC increased its stake in shares of Salesforce by 27.6% in the second quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 156,228 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $42,602,000 after purchasing an additional 33,781 shares during the period. Finally, Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC lifted its position in shares of Salesforce by 43.4% during the 2nd quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 3,654 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $996,000 after purchasing an additional 1,106 shares during the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Salesforce

In related news, insider Parker Harris sold 134,662 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $234.70, for a total transaction of $31,605,171.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 139,767 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $32,803,314.90. This trade represents a 49.07% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Marc Benioff sold 2,250 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $251.12, for a total transaction of $565,020.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 11,911,571 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,991,233,709.52. This trade represents a 0.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders sold 184,284 shares of company stock valued at $43,862,999. 3.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Salesforce Price Performance

Shares of Salesforce stock opened at $260.78 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $248.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 1.25. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $243.26 and its 200-day simple moving average is $252.64. Salesforce Inc. has a twelve month low of $221.96 and a twelve month high of $367.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 0.98.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 3rd. The CRM provider reported $3.25 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.86 by $0.39. The firm had revenue of $10.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.27 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 17.91% and a return on equity of 14.41%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.41 earnings per share. Salesforce has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.020-3.040 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 8th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.416 per share. This represents a $1.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 18th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is currently 22.16%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CRM has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Macquarie raised their target price on Salesforce from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $360.00 to $340.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Salesforce from $316.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Salesforce from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 28th. Finally, Oppenheimer cut their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $315.00 to $300.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 1st. Twenty-nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $326.54.

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.