Salesforce Inc. $CRM Shares Sold by Louisiana State Employees Retirement System

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System trimmed its holdings in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 1.7% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 50,600 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 900 shares during the quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $13,798,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Salesforce in the first quarter valued at approximately $2,039,196,000. Longview Partners Guernsey LTD purchased a new stake in Salesforce in the first quarter valued at approximately $467,944,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Salesforce by 1,744.0% in the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,820,262 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $488,486,000 after buying an additional 1,721,550 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Salesforce by 1.6% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 87,913,628 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $23,592,501,000 after buying an additional 1,383,942 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Salesforce in the first quarter valued at approximately $345,100,000. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 2,250 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $252.42, for a total value of $567,945.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 11,911,571 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,006,718,751.82. The trade was a 0.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director David Blair Kirk purchased 3,400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 9th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $254.66 per share, with a total value of $865,844.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 3,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $973,819.84. The trade was a 801.89% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 78,750 shares of company stock valued at $19,679,535. Insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on CRM. Citigroup lifted their price target on Salesforce from $275.00 to $276.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 9th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $400.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, September 4th. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price target on Salesforce from $275.00 to $250.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 4th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on Salesforce from $375.00 to $325.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 13th. Finally, JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $430.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Tuesday, September 2nd. Twenty-six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $332.58.

Salesforce Stock Performance

Shares of CRM stock opened at $239.91 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $245.62 and a 200 day moving average price of $259.67. The stock has a market cap of $228.40 billion, a PE ratio of 34.87, a P/E/G ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 1.19. Salesforce Inc. has a 1 year low of $226.48 and a 1 year high of $369.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.12.

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

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 17th will be issued a $0.416 dividend. This represents a $1.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 17th. Salesforce’s payout ratio is 24.13%.

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.