Strategic Planning Group LLC Acquires 10,665 Shares of Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Strategic Planning Group LLC lifted its stake in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 65.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 26,938 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,665 shares during the period. Strategic Planning Group LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $6,385,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of CRM. Painted Porch Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Salesforce by 260.0% in the 2nd quarter. Painted Porch Advisors LLC now owns 90 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Salesforce in the second quarter worth approximately $27,000. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in shares of Salesforce by 314.8% in the first quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 112 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares during the period. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc increased its stake in shares of Salesforce by 383.3% in the second quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 116 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 92 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Maseco LLP purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce during the 2nd quarter valued at $34,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Salesforce news, Director G Mason Morfit bought 96,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 5th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $260.58 per share, with a total value of $25,015,680.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 2,994,509 shares in the company, valued at $780,309,155.22. This represents a 3.31% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director David Blair Kirk purchased 1,936 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 17th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $258.64 per share, for a total transaction of $500,727.04. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 10,677 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,761,499.28. This trade represents a 22.15% increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 157,284 shares of company stock valued at $37,274,684. Company insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on CRM. Barclays raised their price target on Salesforce from $316.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 4th. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $430.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Friday, October 17th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $360.00 to $340.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Salesforce from $405.00 to $398.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have assigned a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Salesforce presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $327.74.

Salesforce Stock Performance

NYSE CRM opened at $266.06 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $249.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.52, a P/E/G ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.98. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $250.25 and its 200-day moving average price is $251.64. Salesforce Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $221.96 and a fifty-two week high of $367.09.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 3rd. The CRM provider reported $3.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.86 by $0.39. The company had revenue of $10.26 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.27 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 14.41% and a net margin of 17.91%.Salesforce’s revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.41 earnings per share. Salesforce has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.020-3.040 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 8th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.416 per share. This represents a $1.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 18th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is presently 22.16%.

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.