Beacon Financial Advisory LLC Decreases Stake in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Beacon Financial Advisory LLC lessened its holdings in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 12.6% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,908 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 274 shares during the quarter. Beacon Financial Advisory LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $520,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Salesforce by 1.6% during 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 during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its stake in shares of Salesforce by 6.9% during the 1st 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 buying an additional 600,386 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 5.1% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 9,014,148 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,419,037,000 after purchasing an additional 437,435 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Salesforce in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $2,039,196,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Salesforce by 4.9% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,362,035 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,707,316,000 after buying an additional 295,681 shares during the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Salesforce Trading Up 0.6%

CRM stock opened at $240.25 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The company has a market cap of $228.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.92, a PEG ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 1.19. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $246.66 and a 200-day simple moving average of $260.05. Salesforce Inc. has a 52 week low of $226.48 and a 52 week high of $369.00.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced its quarterly 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. The company had revenue of $10.24 billion during 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 firm’s revenue was up 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. 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. On average, equities research analysts expect that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Salesforce news, Director David Blair Kirk purchased 3,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 9th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $254.66 per share, with a total value of $865,844.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 3,824 shares in the company, valued at approximately $973,819.84. This trade represents a 801.89% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Marc Benioff sold 2,250 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $251.94, for a total value of $566,865.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 11,911,571 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,001,001,197.74. This represents a 0.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 78,750 shares of company stock worth $19,747,868. Insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently weighed in on CRM shares. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Salesforce from $275.00 to $265.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 4th. DA Davidson raised shares of Salesforce from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 15th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on shares of Salesforce from $375.00 to $325.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $430.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a report on Tuesday, September 2nd. Finally, Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on Salesforce from $365.00 to $325.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 4th. Twenty-six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Salesforce currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $332.58.

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.