Allstate Corp Grows Stock Holdings in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Key Points

• Allstate Corp boosted its Salesforce stake by 108% in the fourth quarter, ending with 73,599 shares worth about $19.5 million.
• Salesforce reported strong quarterly results, with EPS of $3.81 beating estimates and revenue of $11.20 billion, up 12.1% year over year.
• The company also authorized a $25 billion stock buyback, while recent insider purchases by directors David Blair Kirk and Laura Alber suggest confidence in the stock.

Allstate Corp raised its position in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 108.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 73,599 shares of the CRM provider's stock after acquiring an additional 38,212 shares during the quarter. Allstate Corp's holdings in Salesforce were worth $19,497,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Board of the Pension Protection Fund purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce during the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Key Capital Management INC purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce during the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Legacy Bridge LLC purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce during the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Texas Capital Bancshares Inc TX purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce during the third quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, Dogwood Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 285.7% during the fourth quarter. Dogwood Wealth Management LLC now owns 108 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 80 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company's stock.

Salesforce Price Performance

Shares of CRM opened at $180.32 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $147.54 billion, a PE ratio of 23.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.76. Salesforce Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $163.52 and a fifty-two week high of $280.74. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $181.89 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $212.11.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.05 by $0.76. The firm had revenue of $11.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.18 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 17.96% and a return on equity of 15.38%. The business's revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.78 earnings per share. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 13.110-13.190 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 3.110-3.130 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Salesforce Inc. will post 9.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Monday, March 16th that allows the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the CRM provider to purchase up to 14.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Salesforce news, Director David Blair Kirk purchased 2,570 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $194.62 per share, for a total transaction of $500,173.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 13,689 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,664,153.18. The trade was a 23.11% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Laura Alber purchased 2,571 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 19th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $194.58 per share, for a total transaction of $500,265.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 9,530 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,854,347.40. This trade represents a 36.94% increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. 3.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on CRM. Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their price target on shares of Salesforce from $223.00 to $194.00 and set an "underperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Wedbush reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $375.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Salesforce from $200.00 to $185.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. DA Davidson reduced their price target on shares of Salesforce from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Finally, Mizuho reduced their price target on shares of Salesforce from $280.00 to $265.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have issued a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Salesforce has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $274.12.

Salesforce 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.

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