Capital Group Private Client Services Inc. Decreases Stake in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Capital Group Private Client Services Inc. lessened its holdings in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 72.4% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 75,991 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 199,466 shares during the period. Capital Group Private Client Services Inc.’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $18,010,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Marquette Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Salesforce during the third quarter worth $26,000. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in Salesforce in the 2nd quarter valued at $27,000. Country Trust Bank grew its stake in Salesforce by 658.8% in the 2nd quarter. Country Trust Bank now owns 129 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 112 shares during the period. Capital A Wealth Management LLC increased its position 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 valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kilter Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the 2nd quarter worth $42,000. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CRM has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on shares of Salesforce from $300.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Arete Research upgraded shares of Salesforce to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Evercore lowered their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $360.00 to $340.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. Citizens Jmp reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $430.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Tuesday, December 2nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on shares of Salesforce from $375.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Salesforce currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $283.14.

Salesforce Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CRM opened at $198.81 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $183.50 billion, a PE ratio of 25.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.29. Salesforce Inc. has a twelve month low of $174.57 and a twelve month high of $296.05. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $215.86 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $236.46.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.05 by $0.76. The company had revenue of $11.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.18 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 17.96% and a return on equity of 15.38%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous 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. Equities analysts forecast that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

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.