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Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd Grows Holdings in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

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Key Points

  • Harvest Fund Management more than doubled its Salesforce stake in the fourth quarter, increasing holdings by 125.5% to 32,097 shares worth about $8.5 million.
  • Several other institutional investors also added to or initiated positions in CRM, and hedge funds now own 80.43% of Salesforce’s shares.
  • Salesforce reported better-than-expected quarterly results, raised its guidance, and the company also authorized a $25 billion share buyback plus a quarterly dividend of $0.44 per share.
  • MarketBeat previews top five stocks to own in July.

Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd lifted its holdings in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 125.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 32,097 shares of the CRM provider's stock after buying an additional 17,861 shares during the quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd's holdings in Salesforce were worth $8,502,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of CRM. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Salesforce during the fourth quarter valued at $3,182,951,000. Capital World Investors increased its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 159.0% during 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 acquiring an additional 10,636,161 shares in the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Salesforce during the third quarter valued at $484,852,000. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. increased its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 285.4% during 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 acquiring an additional 1,842,117 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Generation Investment Management LLP bought a new position in shares of Salesforce during the third quarter valued at $431,157,000. 80.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director David Blair Kirk bought 2,570 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were acquired at an average cost 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. This trade represents a 23.11% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Laura Alber bought 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 transaction, the director directly owned 9,530 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,854,347.40. The trade was a 36.94% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Company insiders own 3.50% of the company's stock.

Salesforce Trading Down 0.8%

Salesforce stock opened at $189.05 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $154.84 billion, a PE ratio of 21.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The business's fifty day moving average is $181.22 and its 200 day moving average is $209.06. Salesforce Inc. has a one year low of $163.52 and a one year high of $276.80.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 27th. The CRM provider reported $3.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.13 by $0.75. The business had revenue of $11.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $11.05 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 18.72% and a net margin of 18.73%.The business's revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.58 earnings per share. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 14.060-14.120 EPS and its Q2 2027 guidance at 3.250-3.270 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Salesforce Inc. will post 9.89 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce declared that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Monday, March 16th that authorizes the company to buyback $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the CRM provider to purchase up to 14.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 11th will be given a $0.44 dividend. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 11th. Salesforce's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.37%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on CRM shares. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "buy" rating and set a $281.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, February 26th. KeyCorp reduced their price target on Salesforce from $300.00 to $290.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 28th. UBS Group restated a "market outperform" rating on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, May 28th. B. Riley Financial raised their price target on Salesforce from $205.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 28th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Salesforce from a "sell (d+)" rating to a "hold (c-)" rating in a research report on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have assigned a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $257.97.

View Our Latest Stock Report on CRM

Salesforce News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

About Salesforce

(Free Report)

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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Want to see what other hedge funds are holding CRM? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report).

Institutional Ownership by Quarter for Salesforce (NYSE:CRM)

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.

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