Simmons Bank Sells 16,373 Shares of Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Simmons Bank lessened its stake in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 43.9% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 20,958 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 16,373 shares during the quarter. Simmons Bank’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $3,912,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Byrne Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Salesforce by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC now owns 4,331 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,147,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Mathes Company Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Mathes Company Inc. now owns 12,558 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,976,000 after buying an additional 45 shares during the period. Fred Alger Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 14,943 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $3,548,000 after buying an additional 45 shares during the period. Fulcrum Asset Management LLP boosted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Fulcrum Asset Management LLP now owns 2,774 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $657,000 after buying an additional 46 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pine Haven Investment Counsel Inc grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Pine Haven Investment Counsel Inc now owns 3,152 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $835,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares during the period. 80.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Salesforce Stock Performance

Shares of CRM opened at $158.12 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $175.09 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $200.07. 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 Inc. has a 52 week low of $146.32 and a 52 week high of $276.80. The stock has a market cap of $129.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.30, a PEG ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.16.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. The company had revenue of $11.13 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.05 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 18.72% and a net margin of 18.73%.The firm’s revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.58 EPS. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 14.060-14.120 EPS and its Q2 2027 guidance at 3.250-3.270 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Salesforce Inc. will post 10.29 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Monday, March 16th that permits the company to buyback $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the CRM provider to repurchase up to 14.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 11th will be given a $0.44 dividend. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 11th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.37%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. Piper Sandler downgraded Salesforce from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, May 28th. Citigroup restated a “market outperform” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. DA Davidson lowered their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $200.00 to $175.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Salesforce from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, June 6th. Finally, Macquarie Infrastructure cut their target price on shares of Salesforce from $200.00 to $190.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have assigned a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $255.14.

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.