Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. Has $11.16 Million Stake in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. decreased its stake in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 8.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 40,910 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 3,605 shares during the quarter. Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S.’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $11,155,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Kranot Hishtalmut Le Morim Tichoniim Havera Menahelet LTD lifted its stake in Salesforce by 70.9% in the second quarter. Kranot Hishtalmut Le Morim Tichoniim Havera Menahelet LTD now owns 24,187 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $6,605,000 after buying an additional 10,037 shares during the period. Kranot Hishtalmut Le Morim Ve Gananot Havera Menahelet LTD raised its position in shares of Salesforce by 72.3% during the second quarter. Kranot Hishtalmut Le Morim Ve Gananot Havera Menahelet LTD now owns 70,213 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $19,175,000 after purchasing an additional 29,463 shares during the period. R Squared Ltd raised its position in shares of Salesforce by 203.9% during the second quarter. R Squared Ltd now owns 6,474 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,765,000 after purchasing an additional 4,344 shares during the period. AlTi Global Inc. raised its position in shares of Salesforce by 8.5% during the second quarter. AlTi Global Inc. now owns 17,862 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $4,861,000 after purchasing an additional 1,396 shares during the period. Finally, Cardinal Point Capital Management ULC acquired a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the second quarter worth about $393,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on CRM shares. Citigroup raised their price target on Salesforce from $275.00 to $276.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 9th. KeyCorp dropped their price target on Salesforce from $440.00 to $400.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 4th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $315.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price objective on Salesforce from $275.00 to $250.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, September 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Salesforce from $380.00 to $365.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 4th. Twenty-five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Salesforce has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $325.23.

Insider Activity at Salesforce

In other Salesforce news, Director David Blair Kirk bought 3,400 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 9th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $254.66 per share, for a total transaction of $865,844.00. Following the purchase, the director owned 3,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $973,819.84. The trade was a 801.89% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Marc Benioff sold 2,250 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $246.07, for a total value of $553,657.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 11,911,571 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,931,080,275.97. This represents a 0.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 78,750 shares of company stock valued at $19,424,880 over the last quarter. 3.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Salesforce Stock Down 0.6%

CRM stock opened at $255.10 on Friday. 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 business has a 50 day moving average price of $246.28 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $257.99. The company has a market cap of $242.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.08, a P/E/G ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.19. Salesforce Inc. has a twelve month low of $226.48 and a twelve month high of $369.00.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 3rd. The CRM provider reported $2.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.78 by $0.13. Salesforce had a return on equity of 13.27% and a net margin of 16.87%.The firm had revenue of $10.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.14 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.56 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Salesforce has set its FY 2026 guidance at 11.330-11.370 EPS. Q3 2026 guidance at 2.840-2.860 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 0.7%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 17th. Salesforce’s payout ratio is currently 24.13%.

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.