Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC Trims Stock Position in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC decreased its position in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 71.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 13,151 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 32,542 shares during the quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $3,586,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

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

Salesforce Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of CRM stock opened at $240.25 on Monday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $246.66 and its 200-day simple moving average is $260.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.12. Salesforce Inc. has a 1-year low of $226.48 and a 1-year high of $369.00. The firm has a market cap of $228.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.92, a PEG ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 1.19.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last issued 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 firm had revenue of $10.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.14 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 16.87% and a return on equity of 13.27%. Salesforce’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business 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 forecast that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity

In other news, Director David Blair Kirk acquired 3,400 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 9th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $254.66 per share, with a total value of $865,844.00. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 3,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $973,819.84. This trade represents a 801.89% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Marc Benioff sold 2,250 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $236.38, for a total transaction of $531,855.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 11,911,571 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,815,657,152.98. This trade represents a 0.02% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 78,750 shares of company stock valued at $19,747,868 over the last 90 days. 3.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on CRM. Roth Capital restated a “buy” rating and issued a $395.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, September 4th. UBS Group lowered their target price on Salesforce from $300.00 to $260.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 18th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on Salesforce from $375.00 to $325.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 13th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Salesforce from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $350.00 to $325.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 26th. Twenty-six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Salesforce has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price 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.