Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC Decreases Position in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC cut its stake in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 4.4% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 79,750 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 3,698 shares during the quarter. Salesforce comprises 1.3% of Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC’s holdings, making the stock its 29th largest position. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $21,747,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Salesforce Trading Up 0.6%

CRM opened at $240.25 on Friday. 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 company has a market capitalization of $228.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.92, a PEG ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 1.19. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $246.66 and its two-hundred day moving average is $260.32. Salesforce Inc. has a 52 week low of $226.48 and a 52 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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 the consensus estimate of $10.14 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.56 EPS. The business’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. Analysts forecast that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current 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. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 17th. This represents a $1.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 24.13%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. DA Davidson upgraded Salesforce from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, August 15th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Salesforce from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. Citigroup increased their price target on Salesforce from $275.00 to $276.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 9th. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on Salesforce from $335.00 to $315.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 4th. Finally, Bank of America reduced their price objective on Salesforce from $350.00 to $325.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 26th. Twenty-six 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 data from MarketBeat.com, Salesforce has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $332.58.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director David Blair Kirk purchased 3,400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 9th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $254.66 per share, for a total transaction of $865,844.00. Following the acquisition, the director owned 3,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $973,819.84. The trade was a 801.89% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Marc Benioff sold 2,250 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $265.77, for a total value of $597,982.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 11,911,571 shares in the company, valued at $3,165,738,224.67. This represents a 0.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 81,000 shares of company stock worth $20,357,213 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

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.