Exchange Traded Concepts LLC raised its position in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 58.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 63,708 shares of the CRM provider's stock after buying an additional 23,388 shares during the period. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC's holdings in Salesforce were worth $16,877,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.
Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in Salesforce by 13.7% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 25,668 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $8,582,000 after acquiring an additional 3,102 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Salesforce by 12.6% during the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,827 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $611,000 after purchasing an additional 205 shares in the last quarter. Bison Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 9.0% in the fourth quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 2,234 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $747,000 after purchasing an additional 184 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 3.7% in the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,958 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $807,000 after purchasing an additional 106 shares in the last quarter. Finally, United Bank grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 5.2% in the second quarter. United Bank now owns 10,198 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $2,781,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company's stock.
Insider Transactions at Salesforce
In related news, Director Laura Alber purchased 2,571 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 19th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $194.58 per share, for a total transaction of $500,265.18. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 9,530 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,854,347.40. This trade represents a 36.94% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director David Blair Kirk acquired 2,570 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $194.62 per share, for a total transaction of $500,173.40. Following the acquisition, 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 disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 3.00% of the company's stock.
Analyst Ratings Changes
A number of research firms have issued reports on CRM. Citizens Jmp reiterated a "market outperform" rating and set a $430.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a report on Tuesday, December 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "buy" rating and issued a $281.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Arete Research raised Salesforce to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. KeyCorp reduced their price objective on Salesforce from $400.00 to $300.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 24th. Finally, Roth Mkm lowered their target price on Salesforce from $395.00 to $325.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $280.21.
View Our Latest Stock Report on CRM
Salesforce Price Performance
Salesforce stock opened at $179.14 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. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $198.40 and a 200-day simple moving average of $230.73. The stock has a market cap of $165.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.29. Salesforce Inc. has a 12-month low of $174.57 and a 12-month high of $296.05.
Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.05 by $0.76. Salesforce had a return on equity of 15.38% and a net margin of 17.96%.The firm had revenue of $11.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.18 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.78 earnings per share. Salesforce's revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. 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 7.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Salesforce announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Monday, March 16th that authorizes the company to buyback $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the CRM provider to purchase up to 14.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.
Salesforce Increases Dividend
The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 9th will be issued a $0.44 dividend. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 9th. This is an increase from Salesforce's previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. Salesforce's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 21.25%.
Salesforce News Roundup
Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:
Salesforce Company Profile
(
Free Report)
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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