Valley Wealth Managers Inc. Trims Stock Position in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Key Points

• Valley Wealth Managers Inc. trimmed its Salesforce stake by 5.1% in the fourth quarter, selling 4,145 shares and ending with 76,904 shares valued at about $20.37 million.
• Salesforce reported strong quarterly results, with EPS of $3.81 versus the $3.05 consensus and revenue of $11.20 billion, up 12.1% year over year.
• The company also boosted shareholder returns by raising its quarterly dividend to $0.44 per share and authorizing a $25 billion stock buyback program.

Valley Wealth Managers Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 5.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 76,904 shares of the CRM provider's stock after selling 4,145 shares during the quarter. Valley Wealth Managers Inc.'s holdings in Salesforce were worth $20,373,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Fourth Dimension Wealth LLC increased its position in Salesforce by 19.1% during the 4th quarter. Fourth Dimension Wealth LLC now owns 624 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $165,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC increased its position in Salesforce by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC now owns 30,734 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $8,142,000 after purchasing an additional 1,263 shares during the period. First National Advisers LLC purchased a new position in Salesforce during the 4th quarter valued at $1,073,000. First Eagle Investment Management LLC increased its position in Salesforce by 17.0% during the 4th quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 4,319,206 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $1,144,201,000 after purchasing an additional 628,382 shares during the period. Finally, Raelipskie Partnership increased its position in Salesforce by 10.3% during the 4th quarter. Raelipskie Partnership now owns 5,377 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $1,424,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the period. 80.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Salesforce Stock Down 2.4%

NYSE:CRM opened at $177.52 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $145.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.73, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.14. 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 fifty-two week low of $163.52 and a fifty-two week high of $296.05. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $186.13 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $217.79.

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 for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.05 by $0.76. The business had revenue of $11.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.18 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 17.96% and a return on equity of 15.38%. Salesforce's revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. 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. Analysts predict that Salesforce Inc. will post 9.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 9th were paid a dividend of $0.44 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 9th. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. This is an increase from Salesforce's previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. Salesforce's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 22.54%.

Salesforce declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback 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 reacquire up to 14.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often a sign that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Oppenheimer reduced their target price on shares of Salesforce from $275.00 to $250.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Salesforce from $235.00 to $210.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Wedbush reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $375.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Salesforce from $265.00 to $252.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their target price on shares of Salesforce from $223.00 to $194.00 and set an "underperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. One research 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 given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $279.18.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Laura Alber bought 2,571 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 19th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $194.58 per share, for a total transaction of $500,265.18. Following the purchase, the director owned 9,530 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,854,347.40. The trade was a 36.94% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director David Blair Kirk bought 2,570 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were bought at an average price of $194.62 per share, for a total transaction of $500,173.40. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 13,689 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,664,153.18. This trade represents 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 corporate insiders.

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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding CRM? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.