Shikiar Asset Management Inc. Buys Shares of 29,967 Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Shikiar Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund bought 29,967 shares of the CRM provider’s stock, valued at approximately $7,939,000. Salesforce accounts for about 2.0% of Shikiar Asset Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th biggest holding.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Marquette Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Salesforce during the third quarter worth about $26,000. Board of the Pension Protection Fund bought a new position in shares of Salesforce during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Salesforce during the second quarter worth about $27,000. Texas Capital Bancshares Inc TX bought a new position in shares of Salesforce during the third quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Salesforce during the third quarter worth about $39,000. Institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Stock Performance

NYSE:CRM opened at $176.18 on Thursday. Salesforce Inc. has a twelve month low of $174.57 and a twelve month high of $296.05. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The company has a 50-day moving average of $191.71 and a 200-day moving average of $227.44. The firm has a market cap of $162.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.29.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $11.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.18 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.78 EPS. The business’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. Analysts forecast 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 permits the company to buyback $25.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the CRM provider to purchase up to 14.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.44 per share. This is a boost from Salesforce’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 9th. Salesforce’s payout ratio is currently 21.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Salesforce

In other news, Director David Blair Kirk acquired 2,570 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was bought at an average cost 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 purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Laura Alber acquired 2,571 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 19th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $194.58 per share, with a total value of $500,265.18. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 9,530 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,854,347.40. This represents a 36.94% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on CRM shares. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price target on shares of Salesforce from $290.00 to $210.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Northland Securities lowered their price target on shares of Salesforce from $267.00 to $229.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 10th. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $325.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $265.00 to $252.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $400.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, February 26th. One 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 assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $280.21.

Salesforce Company 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.