XML Financial LLC Cuts Holdings in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

XML Financial LLC reduced its position in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 3.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,123 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 117 shares during the quarter. XML Financial LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $852,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Salesforce by 1.6% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 87,913,628 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $23,592,501,000 after purchasing an additional 1,383,942 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 6.9% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 9,258,518 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $2,484,616,000 after acquiring an additional 600,386 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 5.1% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 9,014,148 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $2,419,037,000 after acquiring an additional 437,435 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the first quarter worth about $2,039,196,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 4.9% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,362,035 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,707,316,000 after acquiring an additional 295,681 shares during the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on CRM. UBS Group dropped their target price on Salesforce from $300.00 to $260.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 18th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Salesforce from $275.00 to $265.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 4th. KeyCorp decreased their price target on Salesforce from $440.00 to $400.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 4th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Salesforce from $404.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 2nd. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $325.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, September 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have assigned a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Salesforce presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $332.58.

Insider Activity at Salesforce

In related news, Director David Blair Kirk purchased 3,400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 9th. The shares were bought at an average price of $254.66 per share, with a total value of $865,844.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 3,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $973,819.84. This represents a 801.89% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Marc Benioff sold 2,250 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $244.53, for a total value of $550,192.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 11,911,571 shares in the company, valued at $2,912,736,456.63. This represents a 0.02% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 81,000 shares of company stock worth $20,439,405. 3.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Salesforce Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE CRM opened at $236.92 on Wednesday. Salesforce Inc. has a 12-month low of $226.48 and a 12-month high of $369.00. The company has a market cap of $225.55 billion, a PE ratio of 34.44, a P/E/G ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 1.22. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $248.44 and a 200-day simple moving average of $261.05. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

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. Salesforce had a return on equity of 13.27% and a net margin of 16.87%.The firm had revenue of $10.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.14 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.56 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly 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. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 9th. Investors 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 yield of 0.7%. Salesforce’s payout ratio is presently 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.