Salesforce Inc. $CRM Stake Lowered by Fulton Breakefield Broenniman LLC

Key Points

• Fulton Breakefield Broenniman LLC reduced its stake in Salesforce by 40.2% in Q4, leaving 4,426 shares valued at about $1.17M, while institutional investors now own roughly 80.43% of the stock.
• Salesforce beat Q results (EPS $3.81 vs. $3.05 expected; revenue $11.20B), set FY2027 guidance of 13.110–13.190 EPS, and raised its quarterly dividend to $0.44.
• The Board approved a $25.00 billion share buyback (up to 14.1% of shares); analysts have lowered some price targets but the consensus remains a "Moderate Buy" with a $280.21 target.

Fulton Breakefield Broenniman LLC reduced its stake in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 40.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,426 shares of the CRM provider's stock after selling 2,981 shares during the period. Fulton Breakefield Broenniman LLC's holdings in Salesforce were worth $1,172,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Hudson Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 6.1% during the 4th quarter. Hudson Capital Management LLC now owns 19,725 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $5,225,000 after acquiring an additional 1,132 shares in the last quarter. Talbot Financial LLC boosted its holdings in Salesforce by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Talbot Financial LLC now owns 90,428 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $23,955,000 after purchasing an additional 938 shares in the last quarter. Apella Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Salesforce by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Apella Capital LLC now owns 5,371 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $1,423,000 after purchasing an additional 132 shares in the last quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Salesforce by 48.8% in the fourth quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 11,977 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $3,173,000 after purchasing an additional 3,930 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Salesforce by 15.2% in the fourth quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 22,792 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $6,038,000 after purchasing an additional 3,013 shares in the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Piper Sandler reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $250.00 price objective (down from $280.00) on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, February 26th. BTIG Research reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $255.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a report on Wednesday, April 1st. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $325.00 to $250.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $235.00 to $210.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $300.00 to $250.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have issued a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $280.21.

Salesforce Stock Down 1.1%

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

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly 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 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 analysts' expectations of $11.18 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.78 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue 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. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.44 per share. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. This is a positive change from Salesforce's previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 9th. Salesforce's dividend payout ratio is currently 21.25%.

Salesforce declared that its Board of Directors has approved 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 shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Salesforce

In other news, Director David Blair Kirk purchased 2,570 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $194.62 per share, for a total transaction of $500,173.40. Following the completion of the acquisition, 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Laura Alber acquired 2,571 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 19th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $194.58 per share, with a total value of $500,265.18. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 9,530 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,854,347.40. The trade was a 36.94% 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.

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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