Boston Common Asset Management LLC Has $22.92 Million Stock Position in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Boston Common Asset Management LLC lessened its position in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 24.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 86,532 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 27,435 shares during the quarter. Salesforce makes up approximately 1.2% of Boston Common Asset Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest holding. Boston Common Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $22,923,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Rockland Trust Co. increased its holdings in Salesforce by 1,145.6% during the 3rd quarter. Rockland Trust Co. now owns 13,066 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $3,097,000 after acquiring an additional 12,017 shares during the period. Alps Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 10,633 shares during the period. Midwest Trust Co grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Midwest Trust Co now owns 187,071 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $44,336,000 after purchasing an additional 4,233 shares in the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 15.1% during the 3rd quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 467,551 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $113,420,000 after purchasing an additional 61,270 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AGF Management Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 42.2% in the third quarter. AGF Management Ltd. now owns 281,054 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $66,610,000 after purchasing an additional 83,403 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CRM has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $375.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. Northland Securities dropped their price target on Salesforce from $267.00 to $229.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 10th. UBS Group cut their price objective on Salesforce from $260.00 to $200.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. KeyCorp decreased their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $400.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. Finally, Evercore dropped their target price on shares of Salesforce from $360.00 to $340.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. One 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $280.21.

Insider Transactions at Salesforce

In related news, Director Laura Alber acquired 2,571 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 19th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $194.58 per share, with a total value of $500,265.18. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 9,530 shares in the company, valued at $1,854,347.40. This trade represents a 36.94% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director David Blair Kirk bought 2,570 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $194.62 per share, for a total transaction of $500,173.40. Following 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 position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Company insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Trading Up 3.2%

CRM stock opened at $185.02 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $170.77 billion, a PE ratio of 23.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.29. 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 one year low of $174.57 and a one year high of $296.05. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $197.56 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $230.21.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.05 by $0.76. The company had revenue of $11.20 billion for 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%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm 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 predict that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 9th will be issued a $0.44 dividend. This is an increase from Salesforce’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 9th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.25%.

Salesforce declared that its board has approved 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 reacquire up to 14.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is 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.