AIA Group Ltd Reduces Stock Position in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

AIA Group Ltd trimmed its position in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 24.7% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 143,384 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 47,108 shares during the quarter. AIA Group Ltd’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $26,765,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC purchased a new position in Salesforce during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Board of the Pension Protection Fund purchased a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Key Capital Management INC acquired a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Gilpin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Finally, Legacy Bridge LLC purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Stock Performance

NYSE CRM opened at $171.20 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $170.64 and its 200-day simple moving average is $191.20. The company has a market cap of $140.21 billion, a PE ratio of 19.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.18. Salesforce Inc. has a 1-year low of $146.32 and a 1-year high of $274.00.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 27th. The CRM provider reported $3.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.13 by $0.75. The company had revenue of $11.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.05 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 18.73% and a return on equity of 18.72%. Salesforce’s revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.58 EPS. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 14.060-14.120 EPS and its Q2 2027 guidance at 3.250-3.270 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Salesforce Inc. will post 10.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 11th were issued a $0.44 dividend. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, June 11th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.37%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have commented on CRM shares. UBS Group assumed coverage on shares of Salesforce in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. They issued an “overweight” rating on the stock. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on Salesforce from $225.00 to $215.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 28th. Citizens Jmp restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $315.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. Truist Financial lowered Salesforce from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Tuesday, June 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have assigned a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $254.42.

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.