Leo Wealth LLC Invests $1.49 Million in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Key Points

• Leo Wealth LLC bought a new position of 5,638 Salesforce shares valued at approximately $1.49 million in the fourth quarter, per the firm's Form 13F filing.
• Salesforce announced a $25 billion share buyback and raised its quarterly dividend to $0.44, while reporting Q4 EPS of $3.81 (beating estimates) and revenue up 12.1% year-over-year.
• Insider and institutional moves: Director Laura Alber purchased 2,571 shares (~$500k) while Director Neelie Kroes sold 3,893 shares, and institutional investors collectively own about 80.43% of the company.

Leo Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 5,638 shares of the CRM provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,493,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Salesforce by 0.8% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 89,572,253 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $21,228,624,000 after purchasing an additional 748,772 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in Salesforce by 0.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 49,420,657 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $11,732,966,000 after acquiring an additional 159,739 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its position in Salesforce by 9.4% during the third quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 20,051,119 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $4,753,519,000 after acquiring an additional 1,729,440 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its position in Salesforce by 159.0% during the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 17,325,206 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $4,106,255,000 after acquiring an additional 10,636,161 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in Salesforce by 11.8% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 7,155,512 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $1,695,856,000 after acquiring an additional 754,116 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other Salesforce news, Director Laura Alber bought 2,571 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 19th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $194.58 per share, with a total value of $500,265.18. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 9,530 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,854,347.40. This represents a 36.94% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Neelie Kroes sold 3,893 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $238.70, for a total transaction of $929,259.10. Following the sale, the director directly owned 7,299 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,742,271.30. The trade was a 34.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders own 3.00% of the company's stock.

Salesforce Price Performance

Salesforce stock opened at $185.12 on Tuesday. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $193.66 and its 200-day simple moving average is $228.25. The company has a market capitalization of $170.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.29. Salesforce Inc. has a 1 year low of $174.57 and a 1 year 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.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.05 by $0.76. The business had revenue of $11.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.18 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 17.96% and a return on equity of 15.38%. The business's revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.78 EPS. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 13.110-13.190 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 3.110-3.130 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase 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 leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 9th will be paid a $0.44 dividend. This is a positive change from Salesforce's previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 9th. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. Salesforce's payout ratio is presently 21.25%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on CRM. Northland Securities lowered their price target on shares of Salesforce from $267.00 to $229.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 10th. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Salesforce from $265.00 to $252.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Salesforce from $260.00 to $200.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their target price on shares of Salesforce from $223.00 to $194.00 and set an "underperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $375.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have issued a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Salesforce presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $280.21.

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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