Salesforce Inc. $CRM Shares Sold by Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB

Key Points

• Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB cut its Salesforce stake by 18.9% (sold 7,175 shares) to 30,832 shares, while other institutions materially increased positions—leaving about 80.43% of the stock owned by hedge funds and institutional investors.
• Salesforce beat expectations in the latest quarter with $3.81 EPS vs. $3.05 est. and $11.20 billion revenue, provided FY2027 EPS guidance of 13.110–13.190, and holds an analyst consensus of "Moderate Buy" with an average target of $280.21.
• The board approved a $25.0 billion share buyback (up to 14.1% of shares) and raised the quarterly dividend to $0.44 (annualized yield ~0.9%), signaling an increased focus on shareholder returns.

Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB lessened its stake in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 18.9% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 30,832 shares of the CRM provider's stock after selling 7,175 shares during the quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB's holdings in Salesforce were worth $7,307,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Rockland Trust Co. increased its stake in Salesforce by 1,145.6% in the third quarter. Rockland Trust Co. now owns 13,066 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $3,097,000 after purchasing an additional 12,017 shares during the last quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Salesforce by 98.3% in the 3rd quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 21,455 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $5,085,000 after buying an additional 10,633 shares during the last quarter. Midwest Trust Co grew its holdings in Salesforce by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Midwest Trust Co now owns 187,071 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $44,336,000 after buying an additional 4,233 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its holdings in Salesforce by 15.1% in the 3rd quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 467,551 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $113,420,000 after buying an additional 61,270 shares during the period. Finally, AGF Management Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Salesforce by 42.2% during the 3rd quarter. AGF Management Ltd. now owns 281,054 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $66,610,000 after acquiring an additional 83,403 shares during the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Guggenheim reissued a "neutral" rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. BTIG Research dropped their price target on shares of Salesforce from $260.00 to $255.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Salesforce from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, November 28th. Wolfe Research reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, January 15th. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on Salesforce from $325.00 to $315.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 4th. 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 issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $280.21.

Salesforce Trading Down 1.5%

NYSE CRM opened at $195.34 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $180.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.01, a PEG ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.29. 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 one year low of $174.57 and a one year high of $296.05. The company's 50 day moving average price is $207.96 and its 200 day moving average price is $234.16.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.05 by $0.76. Salesforce had a net margin of 17.96% and a return on equity of 15.38%. The company had revenue of $11.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.18 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.78 earnings per share. Salesforce's revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. 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, sell-side analysts predict that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 9th will be issued a $0.44 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 9th. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. This is an increase from Salesforce's previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. Salesforce's payout ratio is currently 22.54%.

Salesforce announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan 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 plans are generally an indication that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Salesforce news, Director Neelie Kroes sold 3,893 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $238.70, for a total transaction of $929,259.10. Following 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 3.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Salesforce Profile

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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