Independent Financial Group LLC Buys New Holdings in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Key Points

• Independent Financial Group LLC opened a new position in Salesforce during the first quarter, buying 13,895 shares valued at about $2.594 million.
• Institutional interest in Salesforce remains high, with hedge funds and other investors owning 80.43% of the company’s stock; several firms also increased their stakes in the latest quarter.
• Salesforce reported solid quarterly results, with EPS of $3.88 topping estimates and revenue of $11.13 billion beating expectations, while analysts still rate the stock a Moderate Buy with a consensus price target of $254.42.

Independent Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 13,895 shares of the CRM provider's stock, valued at approximately $2,594,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Salesforce by 25.4% during the 1st quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC now owns 587 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $110,000 after purchasing an additional 119 shares during the last quarter. Aware Super Pty Ltd as trustee of Aware Super acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce in the first quarter valued at $21,604,000. W.G. Shaheen & Associates DBA Whitney & Co increased its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 7.2% in the first quarter. W.G. Shaheen & Associates DBA Whitney & Co now owns 54,469 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $10,168,000 after purchasing an additional 3,676 shares during the last quarter. Vectors Research Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Salesforce in the first quarter valued at about $1,617,000. Finally, Wealthfront Advisers LLC lifted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 5.4% during the 1st quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC now owns 113,644 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $21,214,000 after buying an additional 5,796 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company's stock.

Salesforce Trading Down 0.9%

Shares of CRM stock opened at $171.20 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. The stock has a market cap of $140.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.18. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $170.64 and a 200 day simple moving average of $191.20. Salesforce Inc. has a 1 year low of $146.32 and a 1 year high of $274.00.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last issued 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.05 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 18.72% and a net margin of 18.73%.The firm's quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business 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, research analysts predict that Salesforce Inc. will post 10.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Investors of record on Thursday, June 11th were given a $0.44 dividend. The ex-dividend date was 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 presently 20.37%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CRM has been the topic of a number of research reports. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on shares of Salesforce from $225.00 to $215.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. Daiwa Securities Group cut their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $295.00 to $280.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Citigroup upgraded Salesforce from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, May 28th. Finally, Evercore reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Salesforce in a report on Tuesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have given a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $254.42.

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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