Salesforce Inc. $CRM Shares Sold by Assenagon Asset Management S.A.

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. reduced its position in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 69.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 560,325 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 1,293,120 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned about 0.06% of Salesforce worth $148,436,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Rockland Trust Co. boosted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 1,145.6% during the third quarter. Rockland Trust Co. now owns 13,066 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $3,097,000 after acquiring an additional 12,017 shares during the last quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Salesforce by 98.3% in the 3rd quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 21,455 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $5,085,000 after purchasing an additional 10,633 shares during the last quarter. Midwest Trust Co lifted its holdings in Salesforce by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Midwest Trust Co now owns 187,071 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $44,336,000 after purchasing an additional 4,233 shares in the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its holdings in Salesforce by 15.1% in the 3rd quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 467,551 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $113,420,000 after purchasing an additional 61,270 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AGF Management Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 42.2% during the 3rd quarter. AGF Management Ltd. now owns 281,054 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $66,610,000 after purchasing an additional 83,403 shares during the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Salesforce Price Performance

Shares of Salesforce stock opened at $195.12 on Tuesday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $202.64 and its 200 day moving average price is $232.53. Salesforce Inc. has a twelve month low of $174.57 and a twelve month high of $296.05. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $180.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.98, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.29.

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

Salesforce announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Monday, March 16th that authorizes the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the CRM provider to buy up to 14.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 9th will be issued a $0.44 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 9th. This is a positive change from Salesforce’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. Salesforce’s payout ratio is 21.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Salesforce

In other Salesforce news, Director Laura Alber acquired 2,571 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 19th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $194.58 per share, for a total transaction of $500,265.18. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 9,530 shares in the company, valued at $1,854,347.40. This represents a 36.94% increase 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 Neelie Kroes sold 3,893 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $238.70, for a total transaction of $929,259.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 7,299 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,742,271.30. This represents a 34.78% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 3.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on CRM. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Salesforce from $235.00 to $210.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Salesforce from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 28th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $400.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, February 26th. DA Davidson dropped their target price on Salesforce from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on Salesforce from $300.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have given a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $280.21.

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.