North Star Asset Management Inc. Acquires 10,830 Shares of Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Key Points

• North Star Asset Management boosted its Salesforce stake by 20.2% in the fourth quarter, buying 10,830 additional shares and bringing its total holdings to 64,319 shares valued at about $17.0 million.
• Salesforce reported strong quarterly results, posting EPS of $3.81 versus the $3.05 estimate and revenue of $11.20 billion, with revenue up 12.1% year over year.
• The company also announced a $25 billion stock buyback and raised its quarterly dividend to $0.44 per share, signaling confidence in its capital-return strategy.

North Star Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 20.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 64,319 shares of the CRM provider's stock after acquiring an additional 10,830 shares during the quarter. North Star Asset Management Inc.'s holdings in Salesforce were worth $17,039,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Board of the Pension Protection Fund bought a new stake in Salesforce during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Key Capital Management INC bought a new stake in Salesforce during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Legacy Bridge LLC bought a new stake in Salesforce during the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Dogwood Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Salesforce by 285.7% during the 4th quarter. Dogwood Wealth Management LLC now owns 108 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Texas Capital Bancshares Inc TX bought a new stake in Salesforce during the 3rd quarter valued at $28,000. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Salesforce Stock Up 2.3%

Shares of NYSE CRM opened at $180.32 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. Salesforce Inc. has a 12 month low of $163.52 and a 12 month high of $280.74. The firm has a market capitalization of $147.54 billion, a PE ratio of 23.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.14. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $182.26 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $212.98.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.05 by $0.76. Salesforce had a net margin of 17.96% and a return on equity of 15.38%. The business had revenue of $11.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.18 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.78 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 13.110-13.190 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 3.110-3.130 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Salesforce Inc. will post 9.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 9th were paid a $0.44 dividend. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 9th. This is a positive change from Salesforce's previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. Salesforce's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 22.54%.

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

Salesforce News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce announced an expanded collaboration with Cint to deliver next-generation AI-powered support through Slack, reinforcing the company’s push into agentic enterprise workflows and AI-driven automation. Cint and Salesforce to Deliver the Next Generation of AI-Powered Support
• Positive Sentiment: Several analyst- and media-driven pieces highlighted Salesforce as an attractive AI and software value play, with commentary pointing to strong upside potential and expectations that Q1 results may benefit from continued digital transformation and generative AI adoption. Salesforce Likely to Beat Q1 Earnings Estimates: Time to Buy the Stock?
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street price-target articles continue to suggest meaningful upside for CRM, with analysts’ average target implying a large gain from current levels and some firms still keeping bullish ratings. Does Salesforce (CRM) Have the Potential to Rally 53.21% as Wall Street Analysts Expect?
• Neutral Sentiment: Salesforce granted 64,296 RSUs to 27 employees tied to the Cimulate acquisition; this is routine retention-related equity compensation and is not likely to materially move the stock on its own. Salesforce Grants Equity Awards to Cimulate Under Its Inducement Equity Incentive Plan
• Neutral Sentiment: Investors are also focused on Salesforce’s upcoming earnings release and expected post-earnings volatility, which adds uncertainty but no clear directional catalyst yet. Here's How Much Traders Expect Salesforce Stock Could Move After Earnings
• Negative Sentiment: UBS flagged a mixed enterprise software spending backdrop and said it sees limited signs of near-term acceleration in bookings, which may be weighing on sentiment into earnings. Salesforce faces tough enterprise software backdrop heading into earnings, says UBS
• Negative Sentiment: Bank of America reiterated an Underperform rating with a $160 target, signaling that some analysts remain cautious on the stock despite Salesforce’s strong market position. BofA Maintains Underperform Rating on Salesforce (CRM)

Analyst Ratings Changes

CRM has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Oppenheimer lowered their price target on shares of Salesforce from $275.00 to $250.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $223.00 to $194.00 and set an "underperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Northland Securities decreased 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. Roth Mkm decreased their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $395.00 to $325.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, Bank of America began coverage on shares of Salesforce in a report on Monday, May 18th. They issued an "underperform" rating and a $160.00 price objective for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have issued a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $274.12.

Insider Activity

In other Salesforce news, Director Laura Alber purchased 2,571 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 19th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $194.58 per share, for a total transaction of $500,265.18. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 9,530 shares in the company, valued at $1,854,347.40. The trade was a 36.94% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director David Blair Kirk purchased 2,570 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $194.62 per share, with a total value of $500,173.40. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 13,689 shares in the company, valued at $2,664,153.18. This represents a 23.11% 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.

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.

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.