Whalen Wealth Management Inc. Purchases New Holdings in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Key Points

• Whalen Wealth Management acquired 4,929 shares of Salesforce in Q4 (~$1.306M), and insiders David Blair Kirk and Laura Alber each purchased ~2,570 shares at about $194.6, with institutional investors owning 80.43% and insiders 3.00% of the stock.
• The board approved a $25.0 billion share buyback (up to ~14.1% of shares) and raised the quarterly dividend to $0.44, while Salesforce beat quarterly EPS estimates ($3.81 vs. $3.05) and set FY2027 EPS guidance of 13.110–13.190.
• Research firms have trimmed price targets recently, but the consensus remains a "Moderate Buy" with an average price target of $280.21.

Whalen Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 4,929 shares of the CRM provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,306,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Aspire Growth Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Salesforce by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Aspire Growth Partners LLC now owns 3,355 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $795,000 after acquiring an additional 39 shares during the period. Abacus Planning Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 3.1% during the third quarter. Abacus Planning Group Inc. now owns 1,420 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $337,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the period. Byrne Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC now owns 4,331 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $1,147,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the period. Code Waechter LLC raised its stake in shares of Salesforce by 5.3% in the third quarter. Code Waechter LLC now owns 871 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $209,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital A Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Salesforce by 40.9% in the second quarter. Capital A Wealth Management LLC now owns 155 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the period. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director David Blair Kirk purchased 2,570 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $194.62 per share, for a total transaction of $500,173.40. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 13,689 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,664,153.18. This represents a 23.11% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Laura Alber acquired 2,571 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 19th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $194.58 per share, for a total transaction of $500,265.18. Following the acquisition, the director owned 9,530 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,854,347.40. The trade was a 36.94% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 3.00% of the company's stock.

Salesforce Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of CRM stock opened at $187.01 on Friday. Salesforce Inc. has a 12-month low of $174.57 and a 12-month high of $296.05. The company has a market capitalization of $172.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.94, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.29. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $194.55 and a 200 day moving average price of $228.83. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $11.20 billion for 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 company's quarterly revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $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. Research analysts forecast that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce announced that its board has approved 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 repurchase up to 14.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 9th will be given a $0.44 dividend. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 9th. This is a positive change from Salesforce's previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. Salesforce's dividend payout ratio is presently 21.25%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CRM has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. KeyCorp decreased their price target on shares of Salesforce from $400.00 to $300.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 24th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $250.00 price objective (down from $280.00) on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, February 26th. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Salesforce from $260.00 to $200.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Salesforce from $398.00 to $287.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. Finally, Roth Mkm dropped their price target on shares of Salesforce from $395.00 to $325.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have given a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $280.21.

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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