Salesforce Inc. $CRM Shares Purchased by Houlihan Financial Resource Group Ltd.

Houlihan Financial Resource Group Ltd. boosted its stake in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 116.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 11,298 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,071 shares during the period. Houlihan Financial Resource Group Ltd.’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $2,746,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Board of the Pension Protection Fund acquired a new stake in Salesforce in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Key Capital Management INC acquired a new stake in Salesforce in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Legacy Bridge LLC acquired a new stake in Salesforce in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Dogwood Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Salesforce by 285.7% in the 4th quarter. Dogwood Wealth Management LLC now owns 108 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Texas Capital Bancshares Inc TX acquired a new stake in Salesforce in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Stock Performance

NYSE:CRM opened at $176.30 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $180.84 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $210.72. The company has a market cap of $144.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. Salesforce Inc. has a 52 week low of $163.52 and a 52 week high of $276.80.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 27th. The CRM provider reported $3.88 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.13 by $0.75. The business had revenue of $11.13 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.05 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 18.73% and a return on equity of 16.70%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.58 earnings per share. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 14.060-14.120 EPS and its Q2 2027 guidance at 3.250-3.270 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Salesforce Inc. will post 9.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Investors of record on Thursday, June 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.44 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 11th. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. Salesforce’s payout ratio is presently 22.54%.

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

Salesforce News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce beat Q1 earnings and revenue estimates, raised full-year profit guidance, and said Agentforce ARR passed $1 billion, reinforcing momentum in its AI strategy.
• Positive Sentiment: The company announced a $25 billion accelerated buyback, which should provide direct support to shareholder returns and may help limit downside.
• Positive Sentiment: Several analysts remained constructive, with firms like Wedbush, Piper Sandler, Cantor Fitzgerald, and B. Riley reiterating bullish ratings and high price targets despite trimming estimates.
• Neutral Sentiment: Citigroup and other banks lowered price targets modestly, but most still kept neutral-to-positive views, suggesting the Street is resetting expectations rather than turning outright bearish.
• Negative Sentiment: The stock is being held back by slightly light revenue guidance and continued investor concern that AI competition could pressure Salesforce’s growth profile over time.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Northland Securities dropped their target price on shares of Salesforce from $267.00 to $229.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 10th. Piper Sandler lowered shares of Salesforce from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. KeyCorp reduced their target price on shares of Salesforce from $300.00 to $290.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $400.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have assigned a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $259.47.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Laura Alber bought 2,571 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 19th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $194.58 per share, for a total transaction of $500,265.18. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 9,530 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,854,347.40. This trade represents a 36.94% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director David Blair Kirk bought 2,570 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $194.62 per share, with a total value of $500,173.40. Following the purchase, the director owned 13,689 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,664,153.18. This represents a 23.11% increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Insiders own 3.50% of the company’s stock.

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.