Houlihan Financial Resource Group Ltd. Grows Stake in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Key Points

• Houlihan Financial Resource Group boosted its Salesforce stake by 116.1% in the fourth quarter, ending with 11,298 shares worth about $2.75 million.
• Salesforce reported strong Q1 results, topping EPS and revenue estimates, while also raising full-year profit guidance and noting that Agentforce ARR surpassed $1 billion.
• The company announced a $25 billion share buyback and a quarterly dividend of $0.44 per share, even as some analysts trimmed price targets and the stock traded well below its 52-week high.

Houlihan Financial Resource Group Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 116.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 11,298 shares of the CRM provider's stock after purchasing an additional 6,071 shares during the period. Houlihan Financial Resource Group Ltd.'s holdings in Salesforce were worth $2,746,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Rockland Trust Co. lifted its stake in Salesforce by 1,145.6% in the 3rd quarter. Rockland Trust Co. now owns 13,066 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $3,097,000 after buying an additional 12,017 shares in the last quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Salesforce by 98.3% in the 3rd quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 21,455 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $5,085,000 after buying an additional 10,633 shares in the last quarter. Midwest Trust Co lifted its stake in Salesforce by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Midwest Trust Co now owns 187,071 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $44,336,000 after buying an additional 4,233 shares in the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its stake in Salesforce by 15.1% in the 3rd quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 467,551 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $113,420,000 after buying an additional 61,270 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AGF Management Ltd. lifted its stake in Salesforce by 42.2% in the 3rd quarter. AGF Management Ltd. now owns 281,054 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $66,610,000 after buying an additional 83,403 shares in the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Salesforce News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce beat Q1 earnings and revenue estimates, raised full-year profit guidance, and said Agentforce ARR passed $1 billion, reinforcing momentum in its AI strategy.
• Positive Sentiment: The company announced a $25 billion accelerated buyback, which should provide direct support to shareholder returns and may help limit downside.
• Positive Sentiment: Several analysts remained constructive, with firms like Wedbush, Piper Sandler, Cantor Fitzgerald, and B. Riley reiterating bullish ratings and high price targets despite trimming estimates.
• Neutral Sentiment: Citigroup and other banks lowered price targets modestly, but most still kept neutral-to-positive views, suggesting the Street is resetting expectations rather than turning outright bearish.
• Negative Sentiment: The stock is being held back by slightly light revenue guidance and continued investor concern that AI competition could pressure Salesforce’s growth profile over time.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on CRM. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $281.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $210.00 to $200.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday. DA Davidson cut their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $200.00 to $175.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Finally, Northland Securities cut their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $267.00 to $229.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have given a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Salesforce has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $259.47.

Salesforce Stock Performance

NYSE:CRM opened at $176.30 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $144.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.41, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.14. The company's 50-day moving average is $180.84 and its two-hundred day moving average is $210.72. Salesforce Inc. has a 1-year low of $163.52 and a 1-year high of $276.80.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 27th. The CRM provider reported $3.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.13 by $0.75. The business had revenue of $11.13 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.05 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 18.73% and a return on equity of 16.70%. The business's revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.58 EPS. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 14.060-14.120 EPS and its Q2 2027 guidance at 3.250-3.270 EPS. Analysts forecast that Salesforce Inc. will post 9.72 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.44 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 11th. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. Salesforce's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 22.54%.

Salesforce announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share 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 reacquire up to 14.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director David Blair Kirk purchased 2,570 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $194.62 per share, for a total transaction of $500,173.40. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 13,689 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,664,153.18. This represents a 23.11% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Laura Alber purchased 2,571 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 19th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $194.58 per share, with a total value of $500,265.18. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 9,530 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,854,347.40. The trade was a 36.94% increase in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. 3.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Salesforce

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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