Salesforce Inc. $CRM Shares Acquired by Summitry LLC

Key Points

• Summitry LLC increased its stake in Salesforce by 3.8% in the fourth quarter, ending with 214,663 shares valued at about $56.9 million. Salesforce now represents roughly 2.4% of Summitry’s portfolio.
• Salesforce posted solid quarterly results, with adjusted EPS of $3.81 on revenue of $11.20 billion, both slightly ahead of expectations. Revenue rose 12.1% year over year, and the company also issued FY 2027 guidance.
• The company approved a $25 billion share buyback, which could repurchase up to 14.1% of outstanding shares. The move suggests management believes the stock may be undervalued, while recent insider buying added to that signal.

Summitry LLC grew its stake in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 3.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 214,663 shares of the CRM provider's stock after acquiring an additional 7,843 shares during the quarter. Salesforce comprises approximately 2.4% of Summitry LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest position. Summitry LLC's holdings in Salesforce were worth $56,866,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of CRM. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 159.0% during the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 17,325,206 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $4,106,255,000 after purchasing an additional 10,636,161 shares during the period. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce during the 3rd quarter worth $484,852,000. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 285.4% during the 3rd quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 2,487,627 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $589,568,000 after purchasing an additional 1,842,117 shares during the period. Generation Investment Management LLP purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce during the 3rd quarter worth $431,157,000. Finally, Capital International Investors grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 9.4% during the 3rd quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 20,051,119 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $4,753,519,000 after purchasing an additional 1,729,440 shares during the period. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Salesforce Stock Performance

NYSE CRM opened at $180.32 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $147.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $181.89 and a two-hundred day moving average of $212.11. Salesforce Inc. has a 1-year low of $163.52 and a 1-year high of $280.74.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.05 by $0.76. The company had revenue of $11.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.18 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 15.38% and a net margin of 17.96%.Salesforce's revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $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, analysts anticipate that Salesforce Inc. will post 9.71 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Monday, March 16th that allows the company to buyback $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the CRM provider to reacquire up to 14.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director David Blair Kirk acquired 2,570 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $194.62 per share, for a total transaction of $500,173.40. Following the purchase, the director owned 13,689 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,664,153.18. This represents a 23.11% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Laura Alber bought 2,571 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 19th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $194.58 per share, for a total transaction of $500,265.18. Following the transaction, 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 position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Company insiders own 3.50% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on CRM shares. UBS Group lowered their price target on Salesforce from $200.00 to $185.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Thursday. KeyCorp lowered their price target on Salesforce from $400.00 to $300.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Salesforce from $235.00 to $210.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Wedbush reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $375.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. Finally, Roth Mkm lowered their price target on Salesforce from $395.00 to $325.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have assigned a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $274.12.

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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