Salesforce Inc. $CRM Shares Bought by Prospera Financial Services Inc

Key Points

• Prospera Financial Services increased its Salesforce stake by 10.3% in the fourth quarter, bringing its holdings to 54,526 shares valued at about $14.4 million.
• Salesforce recently posted better-than-expected earnings, with Q4 EPS of $3.81 versus estimates of $3.05 and revenue of $11.2 billion, up 12.1% year over year.
• The company is also supporting shareholder returns and growth plans through a higher quarterly dividend and a $25 billion stock buyback authorization, even as some analysts remain cautious ahead of earnings.

Prospera Financial Services Inc lifted its position in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 10.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 54,526 shares of the CRM provider's stock after acquiring an additional 5,092 shares during the quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc's holdings in Salesforce were worth $14,448,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 89,843,166 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $23,800,353,000 after acquiring an additional 270,913 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 49,420,657 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $11,732,966,000 after acquiring an additional 159,739 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 9.4% in the 3rd quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 20,051,119 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $4,753,519,000 after acquiring an additional 1,729,440 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 159.0% in the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 17,325,206 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $4,106,255,000 after acquiring an additional 10,636,161 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 11.8% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 7,155,512 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $1,695,856,000 after acquiring an additional 754,116 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company's stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Salesforce

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)

Salesforce Trading Up 2.3%

Shares of NYSE CRM opened at $180.32 on Friday. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $182.26 and its 200 day simple moving average is $212.98. 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 market cap of $147.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.14. Salesforce Inc. has a 12-month low of $163.52 and a 12-month high of $280.74.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last announced 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 firm had revenue of $11.20 billion for 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%.The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $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. Equities research analysts expect that Salesforce Inc. will post 9.71 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

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

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on CRM shares. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their target price on Salesforce from $223.00 to $194.00 and set an "underperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Salesforce from a "hold (c-)" rating to a "sell (d+)" rating in a report on Wednesday. UBS Group cut their price target on Salesforce from $200.00 to $185.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $400.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, Wedbush reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $375.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. One 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 given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Salesforce currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $274.12.

Insider Buying and Selling at Salesforce

In other Salesforce news, Director David Blair Kirk bought 2,570 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $194.62 per share, with a total value of $500,173.40. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 13,689 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,664,153.18. The trade was a 23.11% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Laura Alber bought 2,571 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on 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 purchase, the director directly 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. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. 3.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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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