Farther Finance Advisors LLC Has $9.66 Million Position in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Key Points

• Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its stake in Salesforce by 40.8%, buying 10,572 shares to hold 36,465 shares valued at $9.66 million at the end of the quarter.
• Salesforce's board approved a $25.0 billion share buyback (up to 14.1% of shares) and raised the quarterly dividend to $0.44 per share, signaling management confidence in the stock.
• The company beat Q4 estimates with EPS of $3.81 and revenue of $11.20 billion (up 12.1%), provided FY2027 EPS guidance of 13.11–13.19, and holds a MarketBeat consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" with an average price target of $279.18.

Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 40.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 36,465 shares of the CRM provider's stock after purchasing an additional 10,572 shares during the quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC's holdings in Salesforce were worth $9,660,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CRM. Board of the Pension Protection Fund purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Legacy Bridge LLC purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce during the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Marquette Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce during the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Texas Capital Bancshares Inc TX purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce during the 3rd quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, Avion Wealth grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 63.3% during the 4th quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 129 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. 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 analyst reports. TD Cowen lowered their price target 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. DA Davidson lowered their price target 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. BTIG Research reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $255.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a report on Wednesday, April 1st. 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, Oppenheimer decreased their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $275.00 to $250.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 26th. 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 company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Salesforce currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $279.18.

Salesforce Stock Up 3.7%

CRM stock opened at $177.64 on Thursday. 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 52-week low of $163.52 and a 52-week high of $296.05. The company has a 50-day moving average of $188.22 and a two-hundred day moving average of $224.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $163.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.05 by $0.76. Salesforce had a net margin of 17.96% and a return on equity of 15.38%. The company had revenue of $11.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $11.18 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.78 earnings per share. The business's quarterly 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, equities research analysts anticipate that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The company 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 dividend of $0.44 per share. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. This is a positive change from Salesforce's previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 9th. Salesforce's dividend payout ratio is currently 22.54%.

Salesforce declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share 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 shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Salesforce

In other news, Director David Blair Kirk purchased 2,570 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $194.62 per share, for a total transaction of $500,173.40. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Laura Alber acquired 2,571 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 19th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $194.58 per share, with a total value of $500,265.18. Following 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 position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. 3.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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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