Salesforce Inc. $CRM Shares Sold by Candriam S.C.A.

Candriam S.C.A. lowered its stake in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 12.5% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 654,166 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 93,369 shares during the quarter. Salesforce makes up about 0.8% of Candriam S.C.A.’s holdings, making the stock its 18th biggest position. Candriam S.C.A. owned 0.07% of Salesforce worth $155,037,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Salesforce during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,826,049,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 27,361.5% during the second quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,424,169 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $933,737,000 after purchasing an additional 3,411,700 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its position in Salesforce by 1,729.6% in the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 1,973,141 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $538,020,000 after buying an additional 1,865,297 shares during the last quarter. Amundi raised its position in Salesforce by 26.2% during the 2nd quarter. Amundi now owns 7,755,317 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $2,087,545,000 after buying an additional 1,612,413 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Schroder Investment Management Group boosted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 45.8% in the second quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 3,931,945 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,072,202,000 after acquiring an additional 1,234,969 shares in the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Parker Harris sold 134,662 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 2nd. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,803,314.90. The trade was a 49.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director David Blair Kirk acquired 1,936 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 17th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $258.64 per share, for a total transaction of $500,727.04. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 10,677 shares in the company, valued at $2,761,499.28. The trade was a 22.15% increase in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. 3.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Salesforce Stock Performance

Shares of CRM stock opened at $191.48 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $179.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $243.57 and a 200 day moving average price of $245.07. Salesforce Inc. has a one year low of $187.12 and a one year high of $333.82. 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 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.86 by $0.39. The business had revenue of $10.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.27 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 14.41% and a net margin of 17.91%.The company’s revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.41 EPS. Salesforce has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.020-3.040 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 8th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 18th were paid a dividend of $0.416 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 18th. This represents a $1.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. Salesforce’s payout ratio is 22.16%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on CRM. Wolfe Research restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Monday, January 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $330.00 target price on the stock. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Salesforce from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 28th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $430.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Friday, October 17th. Finally, Evercore lowered their price target on Salesforce from $360.00 to $340.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have assigned a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $323.57.

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.