Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new position in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM – Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 47,800 shares of the CRM provider’s stock, valued at approximately $8,923,000.
Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of CRM. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC bought a new stake in Salesforce during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Board of the Pension Protection Fund bought a new stake in Salesforce in the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Key Capital Management INC purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Gilpin Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Salesforce during the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Finally, Legacy Bridge LLC bought a new position in shares of Salesforce during the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wolfe Research reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Monday, June 15th. Piper Sandler cut Salesforce from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, May 28th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on Salesforce from $225.00 to $215.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. B. Riley Financial boosted their target price on Salesforce from $205.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. Finally, HSBC raised their price target on Salesforce from $350.00 to $356.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have issued a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $257.61.
Salesforce Stock Performance
Shares of CRM opened at $150.39 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $175.95 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $201.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $123.17 billion, a PE ratio of 17.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 1.16. Salesforce Inc. has a one year low of $146.32 and a one year high of $276.80.
Salesforce (NYSE:CRM – Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 27th. The CRM provider reported $3.88 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.13 by $0.75. Salesforce had a return on equity of 18.72% and a net margin of 18.73%.The firm had revenue of $11.13 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.05 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.58 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 14.060-14.120 EPS and its Q2 2027 guidance at 3.250-3.270 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Salesforce Inc. will post 10.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Salesforce Announces Dividend
The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 11th will be given a dividend of $0.44 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 11th. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.2%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.37%.
Salesforce announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Monday, March 16th that allows the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the CRM provider to repurchase up to 14.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors 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.
Read More
- Five stocks we like better than Salesforce
- MDA Space Targets US Defense Market With $620M Acquisition
- Carnival’s Second Quarter: Is the Stock Still Complicated?
- Domino’s Stock Slides to 52-Week Low as Investors Digest CEO Change
- Microsoft Solves AI’s Biggest Bottleneck With Chevron Deal
Want to see what other hedge funds are holding CRM? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM – Free Report).
Receive News & Ratings for Salesforce Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Salesforce and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter.
