FRG Family Wealth Advisors LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Key Points

• FRG Family Wealth Advisors LLC reduced its stake in Salesforce by 29.4% in Q4, selling 3,789 shares and ending the quarter with 9,117 shares valued at about $2.415 million.
• Salesforce's board authorized a $25.0 billion share buyback (up to ~14.1% of outstanding shares) and raised the quarterly dividend to $0.44, boosting shareholder returns.
• Two directors, David Blair Kirk and Laura Alber, each purchased roughly 2,570 shares at about $194.6 per share, representing notable insider buying.

FRG Family Wealth Advisors LLC lowered its stake in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 29.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,117 shares of the CRM provider's stock after selling 3,789 shares during the quarter. FRG Family Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings in Salesforce were worth $2,415,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Board of the Pension Protection Fund acquired a new position in Salesforce during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in Salesforce during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Marquette Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Salesforce during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Texas Capital Bancshares Inc TX acquired a new position in Salesforce during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Finally, Dorato Capital Management acquired a new position in Salesforce during the 4th quarter worth approximately $39,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CRM has been the subject of several analyst reports. Roth Mkm lowered their price target on shares of Salesforce from $395.00 to $325.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Oppenheimer lowered their price target 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. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price target on Salesforce from $290.00 to $210.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Salesforce from $398.00 to $287.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on Salesforce from $235.00 to $225.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a 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 issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $280.21.

Insider Buying and Selling at Salesforce

In other news, Director David Blair Kirk acquired 2,570 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was bought at an average price of $194.62 per share, for a total transaction of $500,173.40. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 13,689 shares in the company, valued at $2,664,153.18. This represents a 23.11% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Laura Alber acquired 2,571 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 19th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $194.58 per share, with a total value of $500,265.18. Following the purchase, the director 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 company insiders.

Salesforce Stock Down 1.1%

Salesforce stock opened at $183.00 on Wednesday. Salesforce Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $174.57 and a fifty-two week high of $296.05. 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 has a market capitalization of $168.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.43, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.29. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $192.75 and a 200-day simple moving average of $227.80.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 analysts' expectations of $11.18 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.78 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter 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. Equities research analysts expect that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

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

Salesforce declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Monday, March 16th that authorizes the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the CRM provider to buy up to 14.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company's leadership 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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