Whalen Wealth Management Inc. Makes New Investment in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Whalen Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 4,929 shares of the CRM provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,306,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in CRM. Marquette Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce during the third quarter valued at $26,000. Board of the Pension Protection Fund acquired a new stake in Salesforce in the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Salesforce in the second quarter worth about $27,000. Texas Capital Bancshares Inc TX bought a new stake in Salesforce during the 3rd quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, Dorato Capital Management acquired a new position in Salesforce during the 4th quarter valued at about $39,000. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Neelie Kroes sold 3,893 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 in the company, valued at $1,742,271.30. This represents a 34.78% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Laura Alber acquired 2,571 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 19th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $194.58 per share, for a total transaction of $500,265.18. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 9,530 shares in the company, valued at $1,854,347.40. This trade represents a 36.94% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. 3.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Salesforce Stock Performance

Shares of CRM stock opened at $187.01 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $172.61 billion, a PE ratio of 23.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.29. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $194.55 and a 200-day moving average of $228.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.76. Salesforce Inc. has a one year low of $174.57 and a one year high of $296.05.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $11.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.18 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.78 EPS. Salesforce’s quarterly revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 13.110-13.190 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 3.110-3.130 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Stockholders 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 of this dividend is Thursday, April 9th. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.25%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CRM has been the topic of several recent research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their target price on shares of Salesforce from $290.00 to $210.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Salesforce from $398.00 to $287.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $235.00 to $210.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $250.00 price objective (down from $280.00) on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, Arete Research raised shares of Salesforce to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Salesforce presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $280.21.

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.