Empowered Funds LLC Raises Stake in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Empowered Funds LLC raised its holdings in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 59.5% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 53,532 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after buying an additional 19,974 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $14,598,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Coign Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in Salesforce by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. Coign Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,183 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $586,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares during the period. Staley Capital Advisers Inc. grew its stake in shares of Salesforce by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Staley Capital Advisers Inc. now owns 3,343 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $897,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. KDT Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 4.1% in the first quarter. KDT Advisors LLC now owns 967 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $260,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the period. Mendel Money Management raised its stake in shares of Salesforce by 3.6% during the first quarter. Mendel Money Management now owns 1,112 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $298,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Scott & Selber Inc. raised its stake in shares of Salesforce by 0.7% during the second quarter. Scott & Selber Inc. now owns 5,850 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,595,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director David Blair Kirk purchased 3,400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 9th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $254.66 per share, with a total value of $865,844.00. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 3,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $973,819.84. This represents a 801.89% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Marc Benioff sold 2,250 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.39, for a total transaction of $545,377.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 11,911,571 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,887,245,694.69. The trade was a 0.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 63,122 shares of company stock valued at $15,615,413. Company insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Trading Down 1.5%

Shares of CRM opened at $233.37 on Wednesday. Salesforce Inc. has a twelve month low of $226.48 and a twelve month high of $369.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $222.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.92, a PEG ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 1.19. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $245.83 and its two-hundred day moving average is $256.96.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 3rd. The CRM provider reported $2.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.78 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $10.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.14 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 16.87% and a return on equity of 13.27%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.56 EPS. Salesforce has set its FY 2026 guidance at 11.330-11.370 EPS. Q3 2026 guidance at 2.840-2.860 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 17th were issued a $0.416 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 17th. This represents a $1.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is 24.13%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $380.00 to $365.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 4th. Macquarie reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $250.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, October 16th. KeyCorp cut their price target on shares of Salesforce from $440.00 to $400.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, September 4th. Roth Capital restated a “buy” rating and issued a $395.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, September 4th. Finally, Northland Capmk cut Salesforce from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. Twenty-five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $323.51.

Salesforce Company Profile

Salesforce, Inc provides Customer Relationship Management (CRM) technology that brings companies and customers together worldwide. The company's service includes sales to store data, monitor leads and progress, forecast opportunities, gain insights through analytics and artificial intelligence, and deliver quotes, contracts, and invoices; and service that enables companies to deliver trusted and highly personalized customer support at scale.