Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC Cuts Stock Position in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Key Points

• Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC cut its holdings in Salesforce by 4.6% in Q4, selling 3,320 shares to finish with 69,288 shares worth $18.355 million, about 1.1% of its portfolio and the firm's 26th largest position.
• Salesforce beat quarterly EPS estimates ($3.81 vs. $3.05) with revenue up 12.1% to $11.20B, and the board authorized a $25 billion stock buyback while raising the quarterly dividend to $0.44 (1.0% yield).
• Insiders Laura Alber and David Blair Kirk each purchased roughly 2,570 shares in mid‑March at about $194.6, increasing insider ownership to 3.0%, while institutional investors own roughly 80.4% of the stock.

Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC cut its holdings in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 4.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 69,288 shares of the CRM provider's stock after selling 3,320 shares during the quarter. Salesforce accounts for approximately 1.1% of Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest position. Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings in Salesforce were worth $18,355,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of CRM. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 159.0% in the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 17,325,206 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $4,106,255,000 after purchasing an additional 10,636,161 shares in the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce in the third quarter valued at $484,852,000. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 285.4% in the third quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 2,487,627 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $589,568,000 after purchasing an additional 1,842,117 shares in the last quarter. Generation Investment Management LLP purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce in the third quarter valued at $431,157,000. Finally, Capital International Investors grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 9.4% in the third quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 20,051,119 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $4,753,519,000 after purchasing an additional 1,729,440 shares in the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Salesforce

In other Salesforce news, Director Laura Alber bought 2,571 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 19th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $194.58 per share, for a total transaction of $500,265.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 9,530 shares in the company, valued at $1,854,347.40. This trade represents a 36.94% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director David Blair Kirk bought 2,570 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $194.62 per share, with a total value of $500,173.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director 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 position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. 3.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on CRM. Weiss Ratings reissued a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Salesforce in a report on Monday, December 29th. Oppenheimer lowered their price target on Salesforce from $275.00 to $250.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. KeyCorp lowered their price target on Salesforce from $400.00 to $300.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "buy" rating and issued a $281.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, Roth Mkm lowered their price target on Salesforce from $395.00 to $325.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have issued a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $279.18.

Salesforce Stock Down 0.9%

Shares of CRM opened at $171.27 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $158.08 billion, a PE ratio of 21.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.29. The business has a fifty day moving average of $188.65 and a 200 day moving average of $225.20. Salesforce Inc. has a 52-week low of $163.52 and a 52-week high of $296.05. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 earnings per share (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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.18 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.78 earnings per share. Salesforce's 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. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Monday, March 16th that allows the company to buyback $25.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the CRM provider to purchase up to 14.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

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 given a dividend of $0.44 per share. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a dividend 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 22.54%.

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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