Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC Has $87.35 Million Stock Position in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 26.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 329,731 shares of the CRM provider's stock after purchasing an additional 68,874 shares during the quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC's holdings in Salesforce were worth $87,349,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Laura Alber acquired 2,571 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 19th. The shares were bought at an average price 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 approximately $1,854,347.40. This trade represents a 36.94% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director David Blair Kirk acquired 2,570 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $194.62 per share, with a total value of $500,173.40. Following the acquisition, the director owned 13,689 shares in the company, valued at $2,664,153.18. The trade was a 23.11% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 3.00% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $398.00 to $287.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a "buy" rating and set a $281.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Northland Securities decreased their price target on shares of Salesforce from $267.00 to $229.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 10th. Barclays dropped their price objective on Salesforce from $265.00 to $252.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, KeyCorp decreased their target price on Salesforce from $400.00 to $300.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 24th. One investment 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Salesforce currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $279.18.

Salesforce Trading Down 3.1%

NYSE CRM opened at $181.17 on Thursday. Salesforce Inc. has a 52 week low of $163.52 and a 52 week high of $296.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.76. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $186.77 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $219.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $148.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.20, a PEG ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.14.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 earnings per share 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 analysts' expectations of $11.18 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 17.96% and a return on equity of 15.38%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last 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. As a group, analysts anticipate that Salesforce Inc. will post 9.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Salesforce Increases Dividend

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

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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