Avantax Advisory Services Inc. Buys 3,387 Shares of Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Avantax Advisory Services Inc. increased its stake in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 4.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 87,331 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,387 shares during the quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $23,814,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in CRM. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in shares of Salesforce by 13.7% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 25,668 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $8,582,000 after purchasing an additional 3,102 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 12.6% in the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,827 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $611,000 after buying an additional 205 shares during the last quarter. Bison Wealth LLC grew its position in Salesforce by 9.0% during the fourth quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 2,234 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $747,000 after buying an additional 184 shares during the period. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Salesforce by 3.9% during the first quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,218 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $595,000 after buying an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Archer Investment Corp raised its position in Salesforce by 20.3% in the first quarter. Archer Investment Corp now owns 900 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $241,000 after acquiring an additional 152 shares during the period. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CRM has been the topic of several analyst reports. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $430.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Friday, October 17th. KeyCorp lowered their target price on Salesforce from $440.00 to $400.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 4th. Oppenheimer cut their price target on Salesforce from $370.00 to $315.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 26th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Salesforce from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 8th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $400.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. Twenty-five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Salesforce presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $325.23.

Salesforce Stock Performance

NYSE CRM opened at $243.86 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. Salesforce Inc. has a twelve month low of $226.48 and a twelve month high of $369.00. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $246.51 and a 200-day moving average price of $257.56. The firm has a market cap of $232.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 1.19.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, September 3rd. The CRM provider reported $2.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.78 by $0.13. Salesforce had a return on equity of 13.27% and a net margin of 16.87%.The company had revenue of $10.24 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.14 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.56 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. Salesforce has set its FY 2026 guidance at 11.330-11.370 EPS. Q3 2026 guidance at 2.840-2.860 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 17th were issued a $0.416 dividend. This represents a $1.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 17th. Salesforce’s payout ratio is 24.13%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director David Blair Kirk acquired 3,400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 9th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $254.66 per share, for a total transaction of $865,844.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 3,824 shares in the company, valued at approximately $973,819.84. This trade represents a 801.89% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Marc Benioff sold 2,250 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $246.66, for a total value of $554,985.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 11,911,571 shares in the company, valued at $2,938,108,102.86. This trade represents a 0.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 67,622 shares of company stock valued at $16,714,561. 3.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.