Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC decreased its position in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 71.2% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 13,151 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 32,542 shares during the period. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $3,586,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in CRM. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in Salesforce by 13.7% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 25,668 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $8,582,000 after buying an additional 3,102 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Salesforce by 12.6% during the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,827 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $611,000 after acquiring an additional 205 shares in the last quarter. Bison Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 9.0% during the fourth quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 2,234 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $747,000 after acquiring an additional 184 shares during the last quarter. Sovereign Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sivia Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Salesforce by 15.3% in the first quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,852 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $765,000 after purchasing an additional 378 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 2,250 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $251.94, for a total value of $566,865.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 11,911,571 shares in the company, valued at $3,001,001,197.74. This trade represents a 0.02% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director David Blair Kirk bought 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, with a total value of $865,844.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 3,824 shares in the company, valued at $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 valued at $19,747,868 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their price objective on Salesforce from $255.00 to $221.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 4th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Salesforce from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. Bank of America cut their price target on shares of Salesforce from $350.00 to $325.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $380.00 to $365.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, September 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Salesforce from $404.00 to $405.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 2nd. Twenty-six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $332.58.

Salesforce Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CRM opened at $240.25 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $228.72 billion, a PE ratio of 34.92, a P/E/G ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 1.19. Salesforce Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $226.48 and a fifty-two week high of $369.00. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $246.66 and a 200 day simple moving average of $260.05. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, September 3rd. The CRM provider reported $2.91 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.78 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $10.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.14 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 13.27% and a net margin of 16.87%.The business’s revenue was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $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. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The company 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 dividend of $0.416 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 17th. This represents a $1.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Salesforce’s payout ratio is 24.13%.

Salesforce 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.