Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co Sells 25,200 Shares of Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Key Points

• Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co sold 25,200 shares of Salesforce, trimming its stake by 13.8% to 157,228 shares, worth about $41.65 million per its latest 13F filing.
• Salesforce's board authorized a $25.00 billion share buyback (up to 14.1% of shares) and raised the quarterly dividend to $0.44 (annualized $1.76, ~1.0% yield).
• Several analysts have cut price targets recently, but the consensus rating remains a "Moderate Buy" with a $279.18 average price target.

Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co lessened its position in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 13.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 157,228 shares of the CRM provider's stock after selling 25,200 shares during the period. Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co's holdings in Salesforce were worth $41,651,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Board of the Pension Protection Fund bought a new position in Salesforce in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Key Capital Management INC bought a new position in Salesforce in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Legacy Bridge LLC bought a new position in Salesforce in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Marquette Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Salesforce in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Finally, Texas Capital Bancshares Inc TX bought a new position in Salesforce in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $28,000. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on CRM shares. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $235.00 to $225.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Northland Securities dropped their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $267.00 to $229.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 10th. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $223.00 to $194.00 and set an "underperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $375.00 to $250.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. Finally, DA Davidson decreased their price target on shares of Salesforce from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have issued a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $279.18.

Insider Transactions at Salesforce

In other Salesforce news, Director David Blair Kirk acquired 2,570 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was purchased 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 $2,664,153.18. This represents a 23.11% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Laura Alber acquired 2,571 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 19th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $194.58 per share, with a total value of $500,265.18. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly 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. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. 3.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Salesforce Trading Up 0.1%

NYSE:CRM opened at $183.98 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $150.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.56, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.14. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $186.67 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $220.11. Salesforce Inc. has a 12 month low of $163.52 and a 12 month high of $296.05.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.05 by $0.76. The business 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 company posted $2.78 earnings per share. 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 expect that Salesforce Inc. will post 9.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 9th were issued a $0.44 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 9th. This is a positive change from Salesforce's previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. Salesforce's dividend payout ratio is 22.54%.

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

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.