Richards Merrill & Peterson Inc. Has $1.14 Million Holdings in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Richards Merrill & Peterson Inc. lessened its holdings in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 4.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,167 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 188 shares during the period. Richards Merrill & Peterson Inc.’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $1,136,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of CRM. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Salesforce during the 1st quarter valued at about $2,039,196,000. Longview Partners Guernsey LTD purchased a new position in Salesforce during the first quarter valued at approximately $467,944,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Salesforce by 1,744.0% in the 1st quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,820,262 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $488,486,000 after buying an additional 1,721,550 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Salesforce by 1.6% in the 1st 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Salesforce in the 1st quarter worth approximately $345,100,000. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CRM has been the topic of a number of research reports. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Salesforce from $275.00 to $276.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 9th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Salesforce from $275.00 to $265.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 4th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $430.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a report on Friday, October 17th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $325.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Salesforce in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. Twenty-five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Salesforce currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $325.23.

Salesforce Trading Down 0.0%

Shares of NYSE:CRM opened at $254.93 on Friday. Salesforce Inc. has a 52-week low of $226.48 and a 52-week high of $369.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.12. The company has a market cap of $242.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.05, a P/E/G ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 1.19. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $246.53 and its 200-day moving average is $258.07.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last released its 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. The firm had revenue of $10.24 billion for 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 company’s revenue was up 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.56 EPS. Salesforce has set its FY 2026 guidance at 11.330-11.370 EPS. Q3 2026 guidance at 2.840-2.860 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 2,250 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $259.01, for a total value of $582,772.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 11,911,571 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,085,216,004.71. This represents a 0.02% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders sold 78,750 shares of company stock worth $19,424,880 over the last 90 days. 3.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.