Rational Advisors Inc. Purchases 4,703 Shares of Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Key Points

• Rational Advisors Inc. sharply increased its Salesforce stake in the fourth quarter, boosting holdings by 1,691.7% to 4,981 shares worth about $1.32 million.
• Salesforce reported better-than-expected quarterly results, posting $3.88 EPS on $11.13 billion in revenue, while revenue rose 13.3% year over year and the company issued upbeat forward guidance.
• The company’s board approved a $25 billion share repurchase program, and Salesforce also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.44 per share payable on July 2, signaling confidence in its capital return strategy.

Rational Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 1,691.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,981 shares of the CRM provider's stock after acquiring an additional 4,703 shares during the period. Rational Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Salesforce were worth $1,320,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Board of the Pension Protection Fund purchased a new position in Salesforce during the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Key Capital Management INC purchased a new position in Salesforce during the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Legacy Bridge LLC purchased a new position in Salesforce during the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Texas Capital Bancshares Inc TX purchased a new position in Salesforce during the third quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, Dogwood Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Salesforce by 285.7% during the fourth quarter. Dogwood Wealth Management LLC now owns 108 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Laura Alber purchased 2,571 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 19th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $194.58 per share, with a total value of $500,265.18. Following the purchase, the director owned 9,530 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,854,347.40. This trade represents a 36.94% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director David Blair Kirk purchased 2,570 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were purchased at an average cost 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 trade represents a 23.11% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. 3.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Salesforce Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:CRM opened at $200.82 on Wednesday. Salesforce Inc. has a 52 week low of $163.52 and a 52 week high of $276.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $164.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.24, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.16. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $181.06 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $210.11. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 27th. The CRM provider reported $3.88 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $11.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $11.05 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.58 EPS. The business's 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. On average, analysts expect that Salesforce Inc. will post 9.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce declared that its board has approved a share 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 purchase up to 14.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 11th. Salesforce's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.37%.

Key Stories Impacting Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce beat expectations in its latest quarter, with strong revenue growth and better-than-expected earnings, reinforcing that core demand remains solid. The company is also being viewed as an AI beneficiary as it expands capabilities through its Anthropic investment and Contentful acquisition. Salesforce just beat estimates, one analyst still sees more pain
• Positive Sentiment: Technical traders are pointing to a bullish reversal, saying CRM has broken out from a consolidation pattern on strong volume and reclaimed key moving averages, which could support further upside if momentum holds. Salesforce (CRM) Price Forecast: Bullish Reversal Gains Strength
• Positive Sentiment: Investor sentiment has also been helped by broader optimism around software stocks and Salesforce’s AI push, with commentary highlighting the company’s strategic positioning in enterprise AI. Salesforce AI Push With Anthropic And Contentful Meets Undervalued Share Price

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on CRM shares. Piper Sandler cut shares of Salesforce from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on shares of Salesforce from $225.00 to $215.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. Bank of America started coverage on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Monday, May 18th. They set an "underperform" rating and a $160.00 target price for the company. Northland Securities cut their target price on shares of Salesforce from $267.00 to $229.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 10th. Finally, B. Riley Financial raised their target price on shares of Salesforce from $205.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have assigned a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $257.97.

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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