Arta Finance Wealth Management LLC Takes Position in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Key Points

• Arta Finance Wealth Management LLC established a new position in Salesforce by buying 5,312 shares in Q4, worth about $1.407 million and representing roughly 0.7% of the firm's holdings (its 26th largest holding).
• Salesforce topped expectations in the latest quarter with $3.81 EPS vs. $3.05 expected and $11.20 billion in revenue (up 12.1% year-over-year), and issued FY2027 EPS guidance of 13.110–13.190.
• The board authorized a $25 billion share buyback (up to ~14.1% of shares) and raised the quarterly dividend to $0.44, equal to a ~0.9% yield.

Arta Finance Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 5,312 shares of the CRM provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,407,000. Salesforce makes up approximately 0.7% of Arta Finance Wealth Management LLC's holdings, making the stock its 26th largest holding.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in CRM. Marquette Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Board of the Pension Protection Fund bought a new position in shares of Salesforce in the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Salesforce in the 2nd quarter worth $27,000. Texas Capital Bancshares Inc TX acquired a new stake in Salesforce in the 3rd quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, Dorato Capital Management acquired a new stake in Salesforce in the 4th quarter valued at $39,000. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CRM has been the topic of several research reports. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $197.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, March 2nd. Wedbush reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $375.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. Northland Securities lowered their target price on shares of Salesforce from $267.00 to $229.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $281.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Salesforce from $365.00 to $320.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have issued a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Salesforce has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $280.21.

Salesforce Stock Performance

Shares of CRM stock opened at $187.01 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $194.55 and a 200-day moving average of $228.76. Salesforce Inc. has a one year low of $174.57 and a one year high of $296.05. The company has a market cap of $172.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.94, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.29.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.05 by $0.76. The business had revenue of $11.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $11.18 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 17.96% and a return on equity of 15.38%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $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. Equities research analysts forecast that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 9th will be issued a $0.44 dividend. This is a boost from Salesforce's previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 9th. Salesforce's dividend payout ratio is currently 21.25%.

Salesforce declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Monday, March 16th that authorizes the company to buyback $25.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the CRM provider to reacquire up to 14.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically an indication that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other Salesforce news, Director David Blair Kirk acquired 2,570 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $194.62 per share, for a total transaction of $500,173.40. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 13,689 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,664,153.18. This trade represents a 23.11% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Laura Alber bought 2,571 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 19th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $194.58 per share, with a total value of $500,265.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 9,530 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,854,347.40. The trade was a 36.94% increase in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. 3.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding CRM? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.