Brookstone Capital Management Purchases 17,034 Shares of Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Brookstone Capital Management raised its position in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 20.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 100,020 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 17,034 shares during the quarter. Brookstone Capital Management’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $26,496,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Gleason Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the fourth quarter worth about $232,000. Financial Planning Hawaii Inc. bought a new position in Salesforce in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $530,000. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. raised its holdings in Salesforce by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. now owns 372,208 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $98,602,000 after buying an additional 7,608 shares during the last quarter. Centennial Wealth Advisory LLC boosted its position in Salesforce by 9.2% during the 4th quarter. Centennial Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 993 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $263,000 after buying an additional 84 shares during the period. Finally, ORG Partners LLC boosted its position in Salesforce by 38.0% during the 4th quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 712 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $189,000 after buying an additional 196 shares during the period. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Salesforce from $365.00 to $320.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $300.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. DA Davidson decreased their price objective on Salesforce from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 27th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. Finally, KeyCorp cut their target price on Salesforce from $400.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. One 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 given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Salesforce has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $280.21.

Insider Activity

In other Salesforce news, Director David Blair Kirk bought 2,570 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was acquired 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 owned 13,689 shares in the company, valued at $2,664,153.18. This trade represents a 23.11% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Laura Alber purchased 2,571 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 19th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $194.58 per share, for a total transaction of $500,265.18. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 9,530 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,854,347.40. This trade represents a 36.94% increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. 3.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Salesforce Trading Up 3.2%

NYSE:CRM opened at $185.02 on Tuesday. Salesforce Inc. has a 52 week low of $174.57 and a 52 week 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 firm’s fifty day moving average is $197.56 and its 200-day moving average is $230.21. The firm has a market cap of $170.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.69, a P/E/G ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.29.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 earnings per share 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 the consensus estimate of $11.18 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 17.96% and a return on equity of 15.38%. Salesforce’s quarterly revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last 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. Equities analysts expect that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 9th will be given a $0.44 dividend. This is a boost from Salesforce’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 9th. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is 21.25%.

Salesforce declared that its board has initiated a share 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 buy up to 14.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s leadership 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.