Salesforce Inc. $CRM Shares Acquired by Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc.

Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 15.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 22,792 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,013 shares during the quarter. Salesforce makes up about 0.9% of Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 27th largest position. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc.’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $6,038,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Board of the Pension Protection Fund acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce during the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce during the 2nd quarter worth $27,000. Marquette Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce during the 3rd quarter worth $26,000. Texas Capital Bancshares Inc TX acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce during the 3rd quarter worth $28,000. Finally, Dorato Capital Management acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce during the 4th quarter worth $39,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Trading Down 1.1%

Shares of CRM stock opened at $185.12 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $193.66 and a 200 day moving average price of $228.25. Salesforce Inc. has a twelve month low of $174.57 and a twelve month high of $296.05. The company has a market capitalization of $170.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.70, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18.

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

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 9th will be issued 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.25%.

Salesforce announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Monday, March 16th that allows the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the CRM provider to reacquire up to 14.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on CRM shares. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $400.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Salesforce from $265.00 to $252.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Truist Financial set a $280.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $250.00 target price (down from $280.00) on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, DA Davidson cut their target price on shares of Salesforce from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 27th. One 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 given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $280.21.

Insider Buying and Selling at Salesforce

In other Salesforce news, Director David Blair Kirk purchased 2,570 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was bought at an average price of $194.62 per share, for a total transaction of $500,173.40. Following 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 purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Neelie Kroes sold 3,893 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $238.70, for a total value of $929,259.10. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 7,299 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,742,271.30. This trade represents a 34.78% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 3.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.