Welch Group LLC Sells 48 Shares of Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Welch Group LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 2.9% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,582 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 48 shares during the period. Welch Group LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $431,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in CRM. Coign Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Salesforce by 1.7% during the first quarter. Coign Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,183 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $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% during the 1st quarter. Staley Capital Advisers Inc. now owns 3,343 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $897,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the period. KDT Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Salesforce by 4.1% during the 1st quarter. KDT Advisors LLC now owns 967 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $260,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the period. Liberty One Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Salesforce by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Liberty One Investment Management LLC now owns 3,165 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $849,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares during the period. Finally, First Command Advisory Services Inc. grew its stake in shares of Salesforce by 7.3% during the 1st quarter. First Command Advisory Services Inc. now owns 572 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $154,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares during the period. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Salesforce news, Director David Blair Kirk acquired 3,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 9th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $254.66 per share, for a total transaction 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 position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Marc Benioff sold 2,250 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $240.34, for a total value of $540,765.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 11,911,571 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,862,826,974.14. This trade represents a 0.02% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 76,500 shares of company stock worth $19,049,130 over the last quarter. 3.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Salesforce Stock Performance

NYSE CRM opened at $242.11 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $244.68 and its two-hundred day moving average is $258.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $230.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.19. 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 fifty-two week low of $226.48 and a fifty-two week high of $369.00.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 3rd. The CRM provider reported $2.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.78 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $10.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.14 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 16.87% and a return on equity of 13.27%. The company’s revenue was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $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 anticipate that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current 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. This represents a $1.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 17th. Salesforce’s payout ratio is presently 24.13%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on CRM. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target 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. Roth Capital restated a “buy” rating and set a $395.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, September 4th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on Salesforce from $335.00 to $280.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 4th. DA Davidson raised Salesforce from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, August 15th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $325.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, September 4th. Twenty-six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $331.89.

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.