ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. Lowers Stake in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. lessened its position in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 4.7% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 916 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 45 shares during the period. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $250,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CRM. Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in Salesforce by 13.7% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 25,668 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $8,582,000 after acquiring an additional 3,102 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Salesforce by 12.6% in the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,827 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $611,000 after buying an additional 205 shares during the period. Bison Wealth LLC boosted its position in shares of Salesforce by 9.0% in the fourth quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 2,234 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $747,000 after buying an additional 184 shares during the period. Foster Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Salesforce by 10.9% in the first quarter. Foster Group Inc. now owns 1,173 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $315,000 after buying an additional 115 shares during the period. Finally, Sovereign Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Salesforce by 4.9% in the first quarter. Sovereign Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,251 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $336,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Salesforce

In other Salesforce news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 2,250 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $236.38, for a total transaction of $531,855.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 11,911,571 shares in the company, valued at $2,815,657,152.98. This represents a 0.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director David Blair Kirk acquired 3,400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 9th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $254.66 per share, for a total transaction 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have sold 81,000 shares of company stock worth $20,357,213 in the last 90 days. 3.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on CRM. DA Davidson raised Salesforce from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, August 15th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on Salesforce from $335.00 to $280.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 4th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on Salesforce from $375.00 to $325.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. Roth Capital reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $395.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, September 4th. Finally, JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $430.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Tuesday, September 2nd. Twenty-six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Salesforce has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $332.58.

Salesforce Trading Up 0.6%

NYSE:CRM opened at $240.25 on Friday. 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 Inc. has a one year low of $226.48 and a one year high of $369.00. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $246.66 and its 200 day simple moving average is $260.19. The stock has a market cap of $228.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 1.19.

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

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.416 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 17th. This represents a $1.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.