BLB&B Advisors LLC Grows Position in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Key Points

• $25.0 billion stock buyback approved (repurchases up to 14.1% of shares) and the company raised its quarterly dividend to $0.44 ($1.76 annual, ~1.0% yield), signaling increased shareholder returns.
• Salesforce beat expectations for the quarter with EPS $3.81 vs. $3.05 and revenue of $11.2 billion (+12.1% YoY), and set FY27 guidance of EPS 13.110–13.190.
• Insiders (directors Laura Alber and David Blair Kirk) each bought ~2,570 shares at about $194.6, institutional ownership is high (~80.4%), and BLB&B Advisors raised its stake to 57,027 shares (~$15.1M), indicating investor confidence.

BLB&B Advisors LLC raised its stake in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 6.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 57,027 shares of the CRM provider's stock after acquiring an additional 3,210 shares during the quarter. BLB&B Advisors LLC's holdings in Salesforce were worth $15,107,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in CRM. Rockland Trust Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 1,145.6% in the 3rd quarter. Rockland Trust Co. now owns 13,066 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $3,097,000 after purchasing an additional 12,017 shares during the last quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Salesforce by 98.3% during the 3rd quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 21,455 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $5,085,000 after buying an additional 10,633 shares during the period. Midwest Trust Co increased its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Midwest Trust Co now owns 187,071 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $44,336,000 after buying an additional 4,233 shares during the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its position in shares of Salesforce by 15.1% in the 3rd quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 467,551 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $113,420,000 after buying an additional 61,270 shares during the period. Finally, AGF Management Ltd. raised its position in shares of Salesforce by 42.2% in the 3rd quarter. AGF Management Ltd. now owns 281,054 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $66,610,000 after buying an additional 83,403 shares during the period. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have issued reports on CRM. DA Davidson lowered their price target on Salesforce from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 27th. UBS Group cut their price objective on Salesforce from $260.00 to $200.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an "overweight" rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Wedbush reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $375.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Salesforce from $235.00 to $210.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have given a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $279.18.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Laura Alber acquired 2,571 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 19th. The stock was bought at an average price of $194.58 per share, with a total value of $500,265.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 9,530 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,854,347.40. The trade was a 36.94% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director David Blair Kirk acquired 2,570 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were 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 approximately $2,664,153.18. This trade represents a 23.11% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. 3.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Salesforce Trading Down 0.9%

NYSE:CRM opened at $171.27 on Wednesday. The business's 50-day moving average is $188.65 and its two-hundred day moving average is $225.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.76. Salesforce Inc. has a 12 month low of $163.52 and a 12 month high of $296.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $158.08 billion, a PE ratio of 21.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.29.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.05 by $0.76. Salesforce had a return on equity of 15.38% and a net margin of 17.96%.The company had revenue of $11.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $11.18 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.78 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 13.110-13.190 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 3.110-3.130 EPS. Research analysts predict that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 9th will be issued a $0.44 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 9th. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. This is a boost from Salesforce's previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. Salesforce's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 22.54%.

Salesforce declared that its board has approved 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 reacquire up to 14.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

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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