AMI Asset Management Corp Decreases Position in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

AMI Asset Management Corp lessened its position in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 177,834 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 3,813 shares during the period. Salesforce comprises 2.4% of AMI Asset Management Corp’s portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest holding. AMI Asset Management Corp’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $42,147,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in CRM. Painted Porch Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Salesforce by 260.0% in the second quarter. Painted Porch Advisors LLC now owns 90 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in Salesforce in the 2nd quarter worth about $27,000. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC raised its position in Salesforce by 314.8% in the 1st quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 112 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc lifted its stake in Salesforce by 383.3% during the 2nd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 116 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 92 shares during the period. Finally, Maseco LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the 2nd quarter valued at about $34,000. Institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Salesforce news, Director G Mason Morfit bought 96,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 5th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $260.58 per share, with a total value of $25,015,680.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 2,994,509 shares in the company, valued at $780,309,155.22. This trade represents a 3.31% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Parker Harris sold 134,662 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the insider directly owned 139,767 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,803,314.90. The trade was a 49.07% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 166,284 shares of company stock worth $39,439,229. 3.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on CRM. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “underperform” rating on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, December 4th. BTIG Research assumed coverage on Salesforce in a report on Tuesday, December 16th. They set a “buy” rating and a $335.00 price target on the stock. Mizuho set a $340.00 price target on Salesforce in a research note on Wednesday, December 10th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $430.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Friday, October 17th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $300.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have given a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $326.68.

Salesforce Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CRM opened at $265.29 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $248.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.42, a P/E/G ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 1.25. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $248.70 and a 200 day moving average price of $251.77. Salesforce Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $221.96 and a fifty-two week high of $367.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.98.

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

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The company 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 $0.416 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 18th. This represents a $1.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. Salesforce’s payout ratio is presently 22.16%.

About Salesforce

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.