Chesley Taft & Associates LLC Has $8.91 Million Position in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Chesley Taft & Associates LLC lessened its stake in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 22.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 37,581 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 10,597 shares during the period. Chesley Taft & Associates LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $8,907,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of CRM. Balefire LLC increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 6.8% in the third quarter. Balefire LLC now owns 1,407 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $333,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares during the period. Country Club Bank grew its stake in Salesforce by 337.8% during the third quarter. Country Club Bank now owns 20,632 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $5,057,000 after buying an additional 15,919 shares in the last quarter. Congress Park Capital LLC increased its holdings in Salesforce by 17.9% in the 3rd quarter. Congress Park Capital LLC now owns 10,558 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,502,000 after buying an additional 1,601 shares during the period. Sendero Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Salesforce by 56.8% in the 3rd quarter. Sendero Wealth Management LLC now owns 30,979 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $7,342,000 after buying an additional 11,217 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Veracity Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 39.1% during the 3rd quarter. Veracity Capital LLC now owns 1,433 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $340,000 after acquiring an additional 403 shares during the period. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have commented on CRM. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $375.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $430.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Friday, October 17th. Roth Capital restated a “buy” rating and set a $395.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, September 4th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on Salesforce from $325.00 to $315.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Salesforce from $405.00 to $398.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have given a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Salesforce presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $326.68.

Insider Transactions at Salesforce

In related news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 2,250 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $244.64, for a total value of $550,440.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 11,911,571 shares in the company, valued at $2,914,046,729.44. This represents a 0.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director G Mason Morfit purchased 96,000 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction on Friday, December 5th. The stock was bought at an average price of $260.58 per share, for a total transaction of $25,015,680.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 2,994,509 shares in the company, valued at approximately $780,309,155.22. The trade was a 3.31% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 173,034 shares of company stock worth $41,097,367. Company insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Price Performance

Salesforce stock opened at $258.10 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $246.33 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $251.81. Salesforce Inc. has a 12 month low of $221.96 and a 12 month high of $367.09. The company has a market capitalization of $241.84 billion, a PE ratio of 34.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

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

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 8th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.416 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 18th. This represents a $1.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.16%.

Salesforce Profile

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.