Banque Cantonale Vaudoise Has $9.86 Million Holdings in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Banque Cantonale Vaudoise decreased its stake in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 10.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 41,605 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 4,685 shares during the period. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $9,861,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Marquette Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Salesforce during the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the second quarter worth $27,000. Country Trust Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 658.8% during the 2nd quarter. Country Trust Bank now owns 129 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 112 shares during the period. Capital A Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 40.9% during the 2nd quarter. Capital A Wealth Management LLC now owns 155 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 45 shares during the period. Finally, Kilter Group LLC acquired a new position in Salesforce in the 2nd quarter valued at $42,000. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Neelie Kroes sold 3,893 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $238.70, for a total transaction of $929,259.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 7,299 shares in the company, valued at $1,742,271.30. This trade represents a 34.78% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director David Blair Kirk purchased 1,936 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 17th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $258.64 per share, for a total transaction of $500,727.04. Following the purchase, the director owned 10,677 shares in the company, valued at $2,761,499.28. This represents a 22.15% increase in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Corporate insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Trading Down 1.6%

Shares of CRM stock opened at $198.81 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $215.86 and a 200-day moving average of $236.46. The stock has a market cap of $183.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.29. Salesforce Inc. has a 52-week low of $174.57 and a 52-week high of $296.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.76.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.05 by $0.76. Salesforce had a net margin of 17.96% and a return on equity of 15.38%. The business had revenue of $11.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.18 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.78 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 13.110-13.190 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 3.110-3.130 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 9th will be paid a $0.44 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 9th. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. This is an increase from Salesforce’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is currently 21.25%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on CRM. Evercore cut their target price on shares of Salesforce from $360.00 to $340.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on Salesforce from $300.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Guggenheim reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. Arete Research raised Salesforce to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Salesforce from $365.00 to $320.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have given a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $283.14.

Salesforce 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.