Salesforce Inc. $CRM Shares Purchased by Fisher Funds Management LTD

Key Points

• Fisher Funds Management LTD boosted its stake in Salesforce by 18.3%, buying 43,619 shares to hold 282,465 shares worth about $74.93 million, making CRM its 13th-largest holding.
• Salesforce beat Q4 estimates with EPS of $3.81 vs $3.05 and revenue of $11.20 billion (+12.1% y/y), and set FY27 EPS guidance of 13.11–13.19; analysts' consensus is a "Moderate Buy" with a $279.18 target.
• The board approved a $25 billion share repurchase plan (up to 14.1% of shares) and raised the quarterly dividend to $0.44, while two directors made insider purchases of roughly 2,570 shares each at about $194.6.

Fisher Funds Management LTD boosted its holdings in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 18.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 282,465 shares of the CRM provider's stock after purchasing an additional 43,619 shares during the quarter. Salesforce makes up 1.9% of Fisher Funds Management LTD's portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest holding. Fisher Funds Management LTD's holdings in Salesforce were worth $74,931,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CRM. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in Salesforce by 13.7% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 25,668 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $8,582,000 after purchasing an additional 3,102 shares during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC increased its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 205 shares during the last quarter. Bison Wealth LLC increased its stake in Salesforce by 9.0% during the fourth quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 2,234 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $747,000 after acquiring an additional 184 shares during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in Salesforce by 3.7% during the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,958 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $807,000 after acquiring an additional 106 shares during the last quarter. Finally, United Bank increased its stake in Salesforce by 5.2% during the second quarter. United Bank now owns 10,198 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $2,781,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have commented on the company. Wedbush restated an "outperform" rating and set a $375.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Tuesday, February 24th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Salesforce from $398.00 to $287.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Salesforce from $365.00 to $320.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Citigroup upped their price target on Salesforce from $197.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on Salesforce from $265.00 to $252.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $279.18.

Insider Transactions at Salesforce

In other Salesforce news, Director Laura Alber purchased 2,571 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 19th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $194.58 per share, with a total value of $500,265.18. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director 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 document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director David Blair Kirk purchased 2,570 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $194.62 per share, with a total value of $500,173.40. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 13,689 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,664,153.18. The trade was a 23.11% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. 3.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Salesforce Price Performance

CRM stock opened at $181.37 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.76. Salesforce Inc. has a 1 year low of $163.52 and a 1 year high of $296.05. The firm has a market cap of $167.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.29. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $188.05 and a 200-day simple moving average of $224.57.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.05 by $0.76. Salesforce had a return on equity of 15.38% and a net margin of 17.96%.The business had revenue of $11.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.18 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.78 earnings per share. The company'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. On average, equities analysts predict that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 9th will be paid a $0.44 dividend. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. This is an increase from Salesforce's previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 9th. Salesforce's payout ratio is 22.54%.

Salesforce declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Monday, March 16th that allows the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the CRM provider to reacquire up to 14.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

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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