Quintet Private Bank Europe S.A. Reduces Position in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Quintet Private Bank Europe S.A. reduced its holdings in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 54.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 5,672 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 6,852 shares during the period. Quintet Private Bank Europe S.A.’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $1,503,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Marquette Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Salesforce in the 3rd quarter worth about $26,000. Board of the Pension Protection Fund bought a new stake in Salesforce during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Salesforce in the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,000. Texas Capital Bancshares Inc TX bought a new position in Salesforce in the 3rd quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC bought a new position in Salesforce in the 3rd quarter worth about $39,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:CRM opened at $187.01 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $194.55 and a 200 day moving average of $228.83. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The company has a market capitalization 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 52 week low of $174.57 and a 52 week high of $296.05.

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, topping 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 analysts’ expectations of $11.18 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.78 EPS. The firm’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. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce announced that its board has approved a share 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 purchase up to 14.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Laura Alber bought 2,571 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 19th. The stock was bought at an average price of $194.58 per share, with a total value of $500,265.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 9,530 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,854,347.40. The trade was a 36.94% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director David Blair Kirk bought 2,570 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $194.62 per share, with a total value of $500,173.40. Following the completion of the purchase, the director 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 SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. 3.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently weighed in on CRM shares. KeyCorp decreased their price target on shares of Salesforce from $400.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 24th. DA Davidson reduced their price objective on Salesforce from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 27th. Citigroup lifted their target price on Salesforce from $197.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. Oppenheimer dropped their price target on Salesforce from $275.00 to $250.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, TD Cowen cut their price target on Salesforce from $325.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have issued a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Salesforce has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target 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.