Salesforce Inc. $CRM Shares Sold by Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC

Key Points

• Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC reduced its Salesforce stake by 32.4%, selling 5,395 shares and leaving 11,257 shares valued at about $2.98 million at the end of the quarter.
• Salesforce's board authorized a $25.0 billion share buyback (up to 14.1% of outstanding shares) and raised the quarterly dividend to $0.44 per share.
• The company topped quarterly estimates with $3.81 EPS vs. $3.05 expected on $11.20 billion revenue and set FY2027 EPS guidance of 13.110–13.190.

Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 32.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,257 shares of the CRM provider's stock after selling 5,395 shares during the quarter. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC's holdings in Salesforce were worth $2,982,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. grew its stake in Salesforce by 15.2% during the 4th quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 22,792 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $6,038,000 after purchasing an additional 3,013 shares in the last quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC grew its stake in Salesforce by 89.5% during the 4th quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC now owns 12,397 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $3,284,000 after purchasing an additional 5,855 shares in the last quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC grew its stake in Salesforce by 33.9% during the 4th quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 1,261 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $334,000 after purchasing an additional 319 shares in the last quarter. Capital Advisors Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Salesforce by 5.8% during the 4th quarter. Capital Advisors Wealth Management LLC now owns 925 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $245,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Zone Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Salesforce by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Blue Zone Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 38,347 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $10,159,000 after purchasing an additional 212 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Salesforce

In related news, Director Neelie Kroes sold 3,893 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $238.70, for a total transaction of $929,259.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 7,299 shares in the company, valued at $1,742,271.30. The trade was a 34.78% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Laura Alber acquired 2,571 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 19th. The shares were bought at an average price of $194.58 per share, with a total value 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 trade represents a 36.94% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 3.00% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on CRM. Roth Mkm lowered their price objective on Salesforce from $395.00 to $325.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on Salesforce from $375.00 to $250.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. Wedbush reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $375.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. 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. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on Salesforce from $235.00 to $225.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have given a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Salesforce currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $280.21.

Salesforce Price Performance

Shares of CRM opened at $185.12 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $170.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.70, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.29. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $193.66 and a 200-day moving average of $228.25. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. Salesforce Inc. has a 52 week low of $174.57 and a 52 week high of $296.05.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.05 by $0.76. The company had revenue of $11.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.18 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 15.38% and a net margin of 17.96%.The business's revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm 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. As a group, analysts forecast that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce declared that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Monday, March 16th that authorizes the company to buyback $25.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the CRM provider to reacquire up to 14.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 9th will be given a dividend of $0.44 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 9th. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. This is an increase from Salesforce's previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. Salesforce's payout ratio is presently 21.25%.

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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