Perpetual Ltd Cuts Holdings in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Perpetual Ltd lowered its position in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 97.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,107 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 155,902 shares during the quarter. Perpetual Ltd’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $1,088,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Marquette Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Salesforce during the third quarter worth approximately $26,000. Board of the Pension Protection Fund purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce in the 2nd quarter valued at $27,000. Texas Capital Bancshares Inc TX acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce during the 3rd quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, Dorato Capital Management purchased a new stake in Salesforce during the 4th quarter worth $39,000. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Salesforce Trading Down 0.1%

NYSE:CRM opened at $187.01 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $172.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.29. Salesforce Inc. has a one year low of $174.57 and a one 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 business’s 50-day simple moving average is $194.55 and its 200 day simple moving average is $228.76.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.05 by $0.76. Salesforce had a return on equity of 15.38% and a net margin of 17.96%.The firm had revenue of $11.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.18 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.78 EPS. Salesforce’s quarterly revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. 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, sell-side analysts predict that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Monday, March 16th that permits the company to buyback $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the CRM provider to buy up to 14.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 9th will be paid a $0.44 dividend. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. This is a boost from Salesforce’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 9th. Salesforce’s payout ratio is presently 21.25%.

Insider Activity at Salesforce

In other Salesforce news, Director Neelie Kroes sold 3,893 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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. This represents a 34.78% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director David Blair Kirk bought 2,570 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $194.62 per share, with a total value of $500,173.40. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 13,689 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,664,153.18. The trade was a 23.11% increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. 3.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently issued reports on CRM shares. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Salesforce from $235.00 to $210.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Roth Mkm decreased their target price on Salesforce from $395.00 to $325.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Mizuho lowered their target price on Salesforce from $280.00 to $265.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. DA Davidson dropped their target price on Salesforce from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 27th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Salesforce 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 issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $280.21.

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.