Aviva PLC Increases Stake in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Aviva PLC increased its position in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 6.9% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 795,904 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after buying an additional 51,175 shares during the period. Aviva PLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $217,035,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CRM. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in Salesforce by 13.7% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 25,668 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $8,582,000 after buying an additional 3,102 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Salesforce by 12.6% during the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,827 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $611,000 after acquiring an additional 205 shares in the last quarter. Bison Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 9.0% in the 4th quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 2,234 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $747,000 after acquiring an additional 184 shares during the last quarter. Leavell Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Salesforce by 17.3% during the 1st quarter. Leavell Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,894 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $777,000 after acquiring an additional 426 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CFO4Life Group LLC lifted its stake in Salesforce by 12.2% during the first quarter. CFO4Life Group LLC now owns 866 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $232,000 after purchasing an additional 94 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 122 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $259.00, for a total value of $31,598.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 11,911,571 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,085,096,889. The trade was a 0.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 74,372 shares of company stock worth $18,317,866. 3.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Salesforce Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of NYSE:CRM opened at $239.92 on Friday. Salesforce Inc. has a 1-year low of $226.48 and a 1-year high of $369.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.12. The stock has a market cap of $228.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.87, a P/E/G ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 1.19. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $247.41 and a 200 day moving average price of $258.16.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, September 3rd. The CRM provider reported $2.91 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.78 by $0.13. Salesforce had a net margin of 16.87% and a return on equity of 13.27%. The company had revenue of $10.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.14 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.56 earnings per share. Salesforce’s quarterly revenue was up 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. Salesforce has set its FY 2026 guidance at 11.330-11.370 EPS. Q3 2026 guidance at 2.840-2.860 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on CRM. Wall Street Zen downgraded Salesforce from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday. Canaccord Genuity Group reduced their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $350.00 to $300.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 4th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on shares of Salesforce from $325.00 to $300.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 9th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $400.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Finally, Northland Capmk cut shares of Salesforce from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. Twenty-five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $325.23.

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.