Marks Group Wealth Management Inc Buys 11,897 Shares of Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Key Points

• Marks Group Wealth Management increased its Salesforce stake by 31.9% in the fourth quarter, buying 11,897 more shares and bringing its holdings to 49,177 shares valued at about $13.0 million.
• Other institutional investors also boosted positions in Salesforce, including major moves by Norges Bank, Capital World Investors, and Capital International Investors, with institutions owning 80.43% of the stock overall.
• Salesforce reported strong quarterly results, beating EPS and revenue estimates, while also authorizing a $25 billion share buyback and maintaining a quarterly dividend of $0.44 per share.

Marks Group Wealth Management Inc raised its stake in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 31.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 49,177 shares of the CRM provider's stock after acquiring an additional 11,897 shares during the quarter. Salesforce makes up approximately 1.2% of Marks Group Wealth Management Inc's investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest position. Marks Group Wealth Management Inc's holdings in Salesforce were worth $13,027,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in CRM. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Salesforce in the fourth quarter worth about $3,182,951,000. Capital World Investors increased its stake in shares of Salesforce by 159.0% in 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 buying an additional 10,636,161 shares during the period. Capital International Investors increased its stake in shares of Salesforce by 13.3% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 22,721,010 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $6,019,199,000 after buying an additional 2,669,891 shares during the period. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce in the third quarter valued at approximately $484,852,000. Finally, Alyeska Investment Group L.P. increased its stake in shares of Salesforce by 285.4% in 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 buying an additional 1,842,117 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.43% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Salesforce

In other Salesforce news, Director Laura Alber purchased 2,571 shares of the company's stock in a transaction 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 completion of the purchase, the director owned 9,530 shares in the company, valued at $1,854,347.40. This represents a 36.94% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director David Blair Kirk purchased 2,570 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was acquired at an average cost 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,664,153.18. This trade represents a 23.11% increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. 3.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Salesforce Trading Down 1.6%

NYSE:CRM opened at $182.72 on Tuesday. The firm's fifty day moving average is $181.25 and its 200-day moving average is $208.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79. Salesforce Inc. has a 52 week low of $163.52 and a 52 week high of $276.80. The firm has a market cap of $149.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.15, a P/E/G ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 1.16.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 27th. The CRM provider reported $3.88 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.13 by $0.75. Salesforce had a net margin of 18.73% and a return on equity of 18.72%. The company had revenue of $11.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.05 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.58 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 14.060-14.120 EPS and its Q2 2027 guidance at 3.250-3.270 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Salesforce Inc. will post 10.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Monday, March 16th that allows the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the CRM provider to repurchase up to 14.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 11th will be paid a $0.44 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 11th. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. Salesforce's payout ratio is 20.37%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CRM has been the subject of several recent research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price objective on Salesforce from $290.00 to $210.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Salesforce from $365.00 to $320.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on Salesforce from $225.00 to $215.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. Truist Financial set a $280.00 price objective on Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Salesforce from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have assigned a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $260.85.

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.

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).

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.