Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. Purchases 5,329 Shares of Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Key Points

• Farmers & Merchants Investments increased its Salesforce stake by 10.4% in the fourth quarter, buying 5,329 additional shares and lifting its holdings to 56,630 shares worth about $15.0 million.
• Salesforce’s recent results topped expectations, with Q4 EPS of $3.81 versus $3.05 expected and revenue of $11.20 billion, up 12.1% year over year.
• The company is leaning further into AI growth with launches like Agentforce Operations and Agentforce Sales to ChatGPT, while also backing shareholder returns through a $25 billion buyback and a higher quarterly dividend.

Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. boosted its position in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 10.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 56,630 shares of the CRM provider's stock after acquiring an additional 5,329 shares during the quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc.'s holdings in Salesforce were worth $15,002,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CRM. Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in Salesforce by 13.7% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 25,668 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $8,582,000 after acquiring an additional 3,102 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 12.6% in the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,827 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $611,000 after purchasing an additional 205 shares during the last quarter. Bison Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 9.0% in the fourth quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 2,234 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $747,000 after purchasing an additional 184 shares during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 3.7% in the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,958 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $807,000 after purchasing an additional 106 shares during the last quarter. Finally, United Bank increased its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 5.2% in the second quarter. United Bank now owns 10,198 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $2,781,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Laura Alber acquired 2,571 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 19th. The stock was acquired 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. This trade represents a 36.94% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director David Blair Kirk acquired 2,570 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $194.62 per share, with a total value of $500,173.40. Following the transaction, 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 SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Corporate insiders own 3.00% of the company's stock.

Salesforce News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce launched Agentforce Operations, a new tool designed to automate complex enterprise workflows, and rising adoption of its Agentforce AI platform is helping reinforce the company’s AI growth story. Salesforce AI Shift Agentforce Operations Links Product Adoption To Valuation
• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce is also bringing Agentforce Sales to ChatGPT, which could expand the reach of its AI-driven CRM tools and support adoption with enterprise customers.
• Positive Sentiment: A new revenue reporting structure beginning in FY27 is intended to align disclosures more closely with Salesforce’s AI-led strategy, potentially making it easier for investors to track how AI products are contributing to growth. Salesforce Inc’s (CRM) New Reporting Structure To Give Better Insights Into AI Driven Growth
• Positive Sentiment: Third-party coverage continues to frame CRM as an AI and big-data beneficiary, with analysts highlighting Salesforce as a play on surging analytics demand and enterprise AI adoption. Top Big Data Stocks Powering the AI Boom as Analytics Demand Surges
• Neutral Sentiment: Several articles compare Salesforce with HubSpot and discuss its competitive position in CRM, but these pieces are more strategic than immediately market-moving.
• Negative Sentiment: Recent coverage also raises a leadership succession question around Marc Benioff, which could create some overhang if investors become more focused on long-term governance and continuity risk. Beyond Benioff: Is Salesforce Ready for Life Without Its Founder?
• Negative Sentiment: Salesforce has also been reported as falling in recent trading, suggesting investors may still be cautious despite the company’s AI initiatives.

Salesforce Trading Down 2.5%

CRM stock opened at $181.67 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.76. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $186.78 and its 200 day simple moving average is $218.91. Salesforce Inc. has a 52 week low of $163.52 and a 52 week high of $296.05. The company has a market capitalization of $148.65 billion, a PE ratio of 23.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.14.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.05 by $0.76. Salesforce had a net margin of 17.96% and a return on equity of 15.38%. The business had revenue of $11.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.18 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.78 earnings per share. Salesforce's revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. 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, sell-side analysts anticipate that Salesforce Inc. will post 9.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Monday, March 16th that permits the company to buyback $25.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the CRM provider to buy up to 14.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 9th were given a dividend of $0.44 per share. This is a positive change from Salesforce's previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 9th. Salesforce's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 22.54%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on CRM. KeyCorp decreased their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $400.00 to $300.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $398.00 to $287.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Roth Mkm decreased their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $395.00 to $325.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $400.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, TD Cowen decreased their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $325.00 to $250.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 26th. One equities 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $279.18.

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.

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.