Community Trust & Investment Co. Has $27.09 Million Stock Position in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Community Trust & Investment Co. grew its holdings in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 17.2% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 114,319 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 16,809 shares during the quarter. Salesforce accounts for approximately 1.5% of Community Trust & Investment Co.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest position. Community Trust & Investment Co.’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $27,094,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 1.0% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 88,823,481 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $24,221,275,000 after purchasing an additional 909,853 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 1.6% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 49,260,918 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $13,452,998,000 after buying an additional 776,300 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Salesforce by 0.6% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 20,873,900 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $5,669,224,000 after buying an additional 114,504 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Salesforce during the 2nd quarter worth $2,826,049,000. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its holdings in Salesforce by 6.9% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 9,258,518 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,484,616,000 after acquiring an additional 600,386 shares in the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Citizens Jmp reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $430.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a report on Tuesday, December 2nd. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $400.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, December 4th. Arete Research raised shares of Salesforce to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Finally, Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note 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 issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Salesforce currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $327.74.

Insider Activity at Salesforce

In related news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 2,250 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $258.20, for a total transaction of $580,950.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 11,911,571 shares in the company, valued at $3,075,567,632.20. This trade represents a 0.02% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Parker Harris sold 134,662 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 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 ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 159,534 shares of company stock worth $37,814,212 in the last quarter. 3.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Salesforce Price Performance

CRM stock opened at $256.21 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $240.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.21, a P/E/G ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $249.79 and a 200 day simple moving average of $251.53. Salesforce Inc. has a 1 year low of $221.96 and a 1 year high of $367.09.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, December 3rd. The CRM provider reported $3.25 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.86 by $0.39. Salesforce had a net margin of 17.91% and a return on equity of 14.41%. The firm had revenue of $10.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.27 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.41 earnings per share. The company’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. Research analysts anticipate that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 8th. Stockholders 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is currently 22.16%.

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.