Salesforce Inc. $CRM Stock Holdings Trimmed by Kentucky Retirement Systems

Kentucky Retirement Systems lessened its position in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 21.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 45,802 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 12,818 shares during the period. Kentucky Retirement Systems’ holdings in Salesforce were worth $8,550,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC bought a new position in Salesforce during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Key Capital Management INC bought a new stake in Salesforce during the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Gilpin Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Salesforce during the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Legacy Bridge LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Finally, Birchwood Financial Partners Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Stock Up 4.0%

CRM stock opened at $188.69 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $154.53 billion, a PE ratio of 21.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.18. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $170.17 and its 200 day simple moving average is $185.57. Salesforce Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $146.32 and a fifty-two week high of $269.11. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 27th. The CRM provider reported $3.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.13 by $0.75. Salesforce had a net margin of 18.73% and a return on equity of 18.72%. The firm had revenue of $11.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.05 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.58 EPS. Salesforce’s revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 14.060-14.120 EPS and its Q2 2027 guidance at 3.250-3.270 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Salesforce Inc. will post 10.29 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 11th were given a dividend of $0.44 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, June 11th. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Salesforce’s payout ratio is currently 20.37%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently commented on CRM shares. Scotiabank lowered shares of Salesforce from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, June 18th. B. Riley Financial increased their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $205.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. Citigroup raised shares of Salesforce from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. Morgan Stanley restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $185.00 target price (down from $287.00) on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a report on Tuesday, June 16th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-four have given a Buy rating, sixteen have given a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Salesforce has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $249.51.

Salesforce Company Profile

Salesforce, founded in 1999 and headquartered in San Francisco, is a global provider of cloud-based software focused on customer relationship management (CRM) and enterprise applications. The company popularized the software-as-a-service (SaaS) model for CRM and has built a broad portfolio of products designed to help organizations manage sales, service, marketing, commerce and analytics through a unified, cloud-first platform.

Core offerings include Sales Cloud for sales automation, Service Cloud for customer support, Marketing Cloud for digital marketing and engagement, and Commerce Cloud for e-commerce.