E. Ohman J or Asset Management AB Boosts Stock Position in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

E. Ohman J or Asset Management AB raised its holdings in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 4.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 175,552 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after buying an additional 7,684 shares during the period. Salesforce comprises about 1.1% of E. Ohman J or Asset Management AB’s holdings, making the stock its 18th largest position. E. Ohman J or Asset Management AB’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $46,505,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in CRM. Aspire Growth Partners LLC increased its holdings 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 valued at $795,000 after acquiring an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. Abacus Planning Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Salesforce by 3.1% in 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 in the last quarter. Code Waechter LLC boosted its holdings in 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. Capital A Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Salesforce by 40.9% in the second quarter. Capital A Wealth Management LLC now owns 155 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. increased its stake in Salesforce by 4.9% in the third quarter. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 961 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $228,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on CRM. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Evercore cut their price target on shares of Salesforce from $360.00 to $340.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. Wolfe Research reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $197.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on Salesforce from $300.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock 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 assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $280.21.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Neelie Kroes sold 3,893 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $238.70, for a total transaction of $929,259.10. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 7,299 shares in the company, valued at $1,742,271.30. The trade was a 34.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director David Blair Kirk purchased 2,570 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $194.62 per share, with a total value 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 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 Salesforce stock opened at $195.12 on Tuesday. Salesforce Inc. has a 1 year low of $174.57 and a 1 year 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 company has a market capitalization of $180.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.98, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.29. The company’s fifty day moving average is $202.64 and its two-hundred day moving average is $232.53.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.05 by $0.76. Salesforce had a net margin of 17.96% and a return on equity of 15.38%. The business had revenue of $11.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.18 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.78 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. 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 forecast that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 9th will be given a $0.44 dividend. This is a positive change from Salesforce’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 9th. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. Salesforce’s payout ratio is 22.54%.

Salesforce announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Monday, March 16th that authorizes the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the CRM provider to repurchase up to 14.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Salesforce Profile

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.