Archford Capital Strategies LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Archford Capital Strategies LLC cut its holdings in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 64.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 4,204 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 7,677 shares during the period. Archford Capital Strategies LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $1,114,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in CRM. Marquette Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Salesforce during the third quarter worth about $26,000. Board of the Pension Protection Fund purchased a new stake in Salesforce in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce during the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,000. Texas Capital Bancshares Inc TX acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce in the 3rd quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce in the 3rd quarter worth about $39,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on CRM. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $281.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Salesforce from $398.00 to $287.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $375.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Tuesday, February 24th. 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 report on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, BTIG Research cut their target price on shares of Salesforce from $260.00 to $255.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. One 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 company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $280.21.

Salesforce Price Performance

Shares of CRM stock opened at $186.52 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $196.90 and a two-hundred day moving average of $229.82. The firm has a market cap of $172.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.88, a P/E/G ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.29. 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 current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.76.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 earnings per share (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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.18 billion. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $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, research analysts anticipate that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.44 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 9th. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. This is a boost from Salesforce’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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 shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the CRM provider to reacquire up to 14.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Salesforce

In other news, Director Laura Alber acquired 2,571 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 19th. The shares were purchased 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 directly owned 9,530 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,854,347.40. This trade represents a 36.94% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director David Blair Kirk bought 2,570 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $194.62 per share, with a total value of $500,173.40. Following the purchase, the director owned 13,689 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,664,153.18. The trade was 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.

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.