D.A. Davidson & CO. Reduces Holdings in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

D.A. Davidson & CO. reduced its holdings in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 7.9% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 41,503 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 3,566 shares during the period. D.A. Davidson & CO.’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $9,836,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Scott & Selber Inc. raised its holdings in Salesforce by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Scott & Selber Inc. now owns 5,850 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,595,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares during the period. Hanson & Doremus Investment Management increased its position in Salesforce by 6.9% in the second quarter. Hanson & Doremus Investment Management now owns 607 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $166,000 after buying an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. Beverly Hills Private Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of Salesforce by 2.3% in the second quarter. Beverly Hills Private Wealth LLC now owns 1,716 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $468,000 after buying an additional 39 shares during the period. Lifeworks Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Salesforce by 2.9% during the 2nd quarter. Lifeworks Advisors LLC now owns 1,420 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $387,000 after buying an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BankPlus Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Salesforce by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter. BankPlus Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,264 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $617,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Stock Performance

NYSE CRM opened at $256.21 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98. Salesforce Inc. has a 1-year low of $221.96 and a 1-year high of $367.09. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $249.79 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $251.53. The stock has a market capitalization of $240.07 billion, a PE ratio of 34.21, a P/E/G ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 1.26.

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

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 8th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 18th will be issued a $0.416 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 18th. This represents a $1.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. Salesforce’s payout ratio is 22.16%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Guggenheim restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $430.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Friday, October 17th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $375.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, December 4th. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an “underperform” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. Finally, Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, December 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have issued a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $327.74.

Insider Buying and Selling at Salesforce

In related news, insider Parker Harris sold 134,662 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $234.70, for a total value of $31,605,171.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 139,767 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,803,314.90. This trade represents a 49.07% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director G Mason Morfit purchased 96,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 5th. The stock was bought at an average price of $260.58 per share, with a total value of $25,015,680.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 2,994,509 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $780,309,155.22. This represents a 3.31% increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 159,534 shares of company stock valued at $37,814,212 over the last quarter. 3.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Salesforce Company 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.