Danske Bank A S Raises Stake in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Key Points

• Danske Bank A/S raised its stake in Salesforce by 19.0% in Q4 to 999,299 shares, representing about 0.11% of the company (≈$264.7M) and making CRM its 20th-largest holding.
• Salesforce beat quarterly estimates with $3.81 EPS (vs. $3.05 est.) and $11.20B revenue, set FY2027 EPS guidance of 13.110–13.190, initiated a $25 billion share buyback, and increased its quarterly dividend to $0.44 (1.0% yield).
• Despite recent cuts to some price targets, the consensus remains a Moderate Buy with an average target of $279.18; institutional ownership is ~80% and several directors recently increased their insider holdings.

Danske Bank A S raised its position in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 19.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 999,299 shares of the CRM provider's stock after acquiring an additional 159,234 shares during the quarter. Salesforce makes up about 0.6% of Danske Bank A S's holdings, making the stock its 20th biggest holding. Danske Bank A S owned about 0.11% of Salesforce worth $264,724,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Aspire Growth Partners LLC raised its holdings in Salesforce by 1.2% during the third quarter. Aspire Growth Partners LLC now owns 3,355 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $795,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. Abacus Planning Group Inc. raised its holdings in Salesforce by 3.1% during the third quarter. Abacus Planning Group Inc. now owns 1,420 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $337,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Salesforce by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC now owns 4,331 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $1,147,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Code Waechter LLC raised its holdings in Salesforce by 5.3% during the third quarter. Code Waechter LLC now owns 871 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $209,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mathes Company Inc. raised its holdings in Salesforce by 0.4% during the third quarter. Mathes Company Inc. now owns 12,558 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $2,976,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company's stock.

Salesforce Stock Performance

Shares of Salesforce stock opened at $176.45 on Friday. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $186.67 and its 200-day simple moving average is $220.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $144.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.59, a PEG ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.29. Salesforce Inc. has a 12 month low of $163.52 and a 12 month high of $296.05. 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 (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 company's quarterly revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.78 EPS. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 13.110-13.190 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 3.110-3.130 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Salesforce Inc. will post 9.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 9th were paid a $0.44 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 9th. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. This is an increase from Salesforce's previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. Salesforce's dividend payout ratio is presently 22.54%.

Salesforce declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Monday, March 16th that permits the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the CRM provider to repurchase up to 14.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on CRM. Mizuho cut their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $280.00 to $265.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 26th. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $260.00 to $200.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Northland Securities cut their price objective 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $365.00 to $320.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, DA Davidson cut their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $279.18.

Insider Buying and Selling at Salesforce

In other news, Director David Blair Kirk acquired 2,570 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $194.62 per share, with a total value of $500,173.40. Following the purchase, the director owned 13,689 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,664,153.18. This represents a 23.11% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Laura Alber acquired 2,571 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 19th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $194.58 per share, for a total transaction of $500,265.18. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 9,530 shares in the company, valued at $1,854,347.40. This trade represents a 36.94% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 3.00% of the company's stock.

Salesforce Company 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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