Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC Sells 7,457 Shares of Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC decreased its position in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 13.7% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 47,135 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 7,457 shares during the quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $12,487,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of CRM. Marquette Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Salesforce during the third quarter valued at $26,000. Board of the Pension Protection Fund bought a new position in Salesforce during the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in Salesforce during the second quarter valued at $27,000. Texas Capital Bancshares Inc TX bought a new position in Salesforce during the third quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, Dorato Capital Management bought a new position in Salesforce during the fourth quarter valued at $39,000. Institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Trading Down 3.7%

NYSE CRM opened at $176.18 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $191.71 and its 200-day moving average price is $227.44. 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 stock has a market cap of $162.62 billion, a PE ratio of 22.56, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.29. Salesforce Inc. has a 12 month low of $174.57 and a 12 month high of $296.05.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.05 by $0.76. Salesforce had a net margin of 17.96% and a return on equity of 15.38%. The firm had revenue of $11.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.18 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.78 earnings per share. 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. Equities research analysts forecast 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 program on Monday, March 16th that allows the company to buyback $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the CRM provider to repurchase up to 14.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.44 per share. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 9th. This is a positive change from Salesforce’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 21.25%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Salesforce news, Director Laura Alber bought 2,571 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 19th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $194.58 per share, for a total transaction of $500,265.18. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 9,530 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,854,347.40. The trade was a 36.94% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Neelie Kroes sold 3,893 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $238.70, for a total transaction of $929,259.10. Following the transaction, the director owned 7,299 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,742,271.30. The trade was a 34.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 3.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CRM has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $281.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Roth Mkm cut their price target on shares of Salesforce from $395.00 to $325.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on shares of Salesforce from $375.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Oppenheimer cut their price target on shares of Salesforce from $275.00 to $250.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on shares of Salesforce from $300.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have given a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price 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.