Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. Cuts Position in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. cut its stake in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 90,641 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 321 shares during the period. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $24,717,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Coign Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in Salesforce by 1.7% in the first quarter. Coign Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,183 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $586,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Staley Capital Advisers Inc. grew its position in Salesforce by 1.1% in the first quarter. Staley Capital Advisers Inc. now owns 3,343 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $897,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. KDT Advisors LLC grew its position in Salesforce by 4.1% in the first quarter. KDT Advisors LLC now owns 967 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $260,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Liberty One Investment Management LLC grew its position in Salesforce by 1.2% in the first quarter. Liberty One Investment Management LLC now owns 3,165 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $849,000 after acquiring an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Command Advisory Services Inc. lifted its stake in Salesforce by 7.3% in the first quarter. First Command Advisory Services Inc. now owns 572 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $154,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 2,250 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $248.56, for a total transaction of $559,260.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 11,911,571 shares in the company, valued at $2,960,740,087.76. The trade was a 0.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director David Blair Kirk purchased 3,400 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 9th. The shares were bought at an average price of $254.66 per share, for a total transaction of $865,844.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 3,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $973,819.84. This trade represents a 801.89% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 78,750 shares of company stock valued at $19,372,928. Insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:CRM opened at $256.90 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $244.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $247.26 and a 200-day moving average price of $258.02. 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 Inc. has a 12 month low of $226.48 and a 12 month high of $369.00.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $10.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.14 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 16.87% and a return on equity of 13.27%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $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. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 17th were paid a dividend of $0.416 per share. This represents a $1.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 17th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is 24.13%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on CRM shares. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $325.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Salesforce from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 11th. Canaccord Genuity Group lowered their price target on shares of Salesforce from $350.00 to $300.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 4th. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $430.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Friday, October 17th. Finally, Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $375.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Twenty-five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.