Essex LLC Acquires 447 Shares of Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Essex LLC raised its stake in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 18.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,899 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after buying an additional 447 shares during the period. Essex LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $791,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Painted Porch Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 260.0% during the 2nd quarter. Painted Porch Advisors LLC now owns 90 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the period. Capital A Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Salesforce by 450.0% during the first quarter. Capital A Wealth Management LLC now owns 110 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares during the period. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 314.8% in the first quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 112 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. Abound Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the first quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc increased its stake in shares of Salesforce by 383.3% in the second quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 116 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 92 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CRM has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Macquarie reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $290.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, September 4th. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on Salesforce from $335.00 to $315.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 4th. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Salesforce from $300.00 to $260.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 18th. DA Davidson raised shares of Salesforce from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, August 15th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $380.00 to $365.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 4th. Twenty-five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $328.22.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Salesforce news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 2,250 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $236.45, for a total transaction of $532,012.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 11,911,571 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,816,490,962.95. This represents a 0.02% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director David Blair Kirk acquired 3,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 9th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $254.66 per share, for a total transaction of $865,844.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 3,824 shares in the company, valued at approximately $973,819.84. The trade was a 801.89% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have sold 78,750 shares of company stock worth $19,572,233 over the last quarter. 3.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Salesforce Trading Down 3.6%

Shares of Salesforce stock opened at $239.87 on Wednesday. Salesforce Inc. has a 12-month low of $226.48 and a 12-month high of $369.00. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $244.47 and a 200 day simple moving average of $258.36. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $228.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.19.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced its 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. The business had revenue of $10.24 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business 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. Research analysts expect that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

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

About Salesforce

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.