Ritholtz Wealth Management Increases Stock Holdings in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Ritholtz Wealth Management grew its stake in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 3.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,574 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 440 shares during the quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $3,974,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Salesforce during the 1st quarter worth approximately $2,039,196,000. Longview Partners Guernsey LTD acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce in the 1st quarter valued at $467,944,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its stake 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 valued at $488,486,000 after purchasing an additional 1,721,550 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Salesforce by 1.6% during the 1st 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 last quarter. Finally, Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in Salesforce in the 1st quarter worth approximately $345,100,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Salesforce news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 2,250 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $236.45, for a total value of $532,012.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 11,911,571 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,816,490,962.95. This trade represents a 0.02% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director David Blair Kirk acquired 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 owned 3,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $973,819.84. This represents a 801.89% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 78,750 shares of company stock worth $19,572,233. Insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Stock Performance

NYSE CRM opened at $236.60 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $225.24 billion, a PE ratio of 34.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 1.19. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $244.22 and its 200-day simple moving average is $258.21. Salesforce Inc. has a 1-year low of $226.48 and a 1-year high of $369.00. 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 (NYSE:CRM) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, September 3rd. The CRM provider reported $2.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.78 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $10.24 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.14 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 13.27% and a net margin of 16.87%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last 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 research analysts anticipate that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 17th were paid a $0.416 dividend. This represents a $1.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 17th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 24.13%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on CRM shares. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their price target on Salesforce from $255.00 to $221.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 4th. Citigroup upped their price objective on Salesforce from $275.00 to $276.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 9th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on shares of Salesforce from $335.00 to $280.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 4th. DA Davidson raised shares of Salesforce from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 15th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Salesforce from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 11th. Twenty-five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $328.22.

Salesforce Company Profile

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.