Prospera Financial Services Inc lifted its position in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM – Free Report) by 10.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 54,526 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after buying an additional 5,092 shares during the period. Prospera Financial Services Inc’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $14,448,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Board of the Pension Protection Fund bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Key Capital Management INC bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Legacy Bridge LLC bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the 4th quarter worth $27,000. Texas Capital Bancshares Inc TX bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the 3rd quarter worth $28,000. Finally, Dogwood Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Salesforce by 285.7% in the 4th quarter. Dogwood Wealth Management LLC now owns 108 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $375.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Tuesday, February 24th. Northland Securities dropped their price objective on Salesforce from $267.00 to $229.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 10th. Wall Street Zen cut Salesforce from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, April 18th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, Oppenheimer decreased their target price on Salesforce from $275.00 to $250.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have issued a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Salesforce presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $274.12.
Insiders Place Their Bets
In other Salesforce news, Director David Blair Kirk purchased 2,570 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $194.62 per share, for a total transaction of $500,173.40. Following the completion of the acquisition, 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 position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Laura Alber purchased 2,571 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 19th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $194.58 per share, for a total transaction of $500,265.18. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 9,530 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,854,347.40. This represents a 36.94% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders own 3.50% of the company’s stock.
Salesforce Stock Performance
Shares of NYSE CRM opened at $180.32 on Friday. Salesforce Inc. has a 52-week low of $163.52 and a 52-week high of $280.74. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $147.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.09, a PEG ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.14. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $182.26 and its 200 day simple moving average is $212.98.
Salesforce (NYSE:CRM – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $11.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.18 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.78 earnings per share. Salesforce’s revenue for the quarter 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 forecast that Salesforce Inc. will post 9.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Salesforce Increases Dividend
The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 9th were issued a dividend of $0.44 per share. This is a positive change from Salesforce’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 9th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is presently 22.54%.
Salesforce declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Monday, March 16th that allows the company to buyback $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the CRM provider to buy up to 14.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.
Key Salesforce News
Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:
- Positive Sentiment: Salesforce announced an expanded collaboration with Cint to deliver next-generation AI-powered support through Slack, reinforcing the company’s push into agentic enterprise workflows and AI-driven automation. Cint and Salesforce to Deliver the Next Generation of AI-Powered Support
- Positive Sentiment: Several analyst- and media-driven pieces highlighted Salesforce as an attractive AI and software value play, with commentary pointing to strong upside potential and expectations that Q1 results may benefit from continued digital transformation and generative AI adoption. Salesforce Likely to Beat Q1 Earnings Estimates: Time to Buy the Stock?
- Positive Sentiment: Wall Street price-target articles continue to suggest meaningful upside for CRM, with analysts’ average target implying a large gain from current levels and some firms still keeping bullish ratings. Does Salesforce (CRM) Have the Potential to Rally 53.21% as Wall Street Analysts Expect?
- Neutral Sentiment: Salesforce granted 64,296 RSUs to 27 employees tied to the Cimulate acquisition; this is routine retention-related equity compensation and is not likely to materially move the stock on its own. Salesforce Grants Equity Awards to Cimulate Under Its Inducement Equity Incentive Plan
- Neutral Sentiment: Investors are also focused on Salesforce’s upcoming earnings release and expected post-earnings volatility, which adds uncertainty but no clear directional catalyst yet. Here’s How Much Traders Expect Salesforce Stock Could Move After Earnings
- Negative Sentiment: UBS flagged a mixed enterprise software spending backdrop and said it sees limited signs of near-term acceleration in bookings, which may be weighing on sentiment into earnings. Salesforce faces tough enterprise software backdrop heading into earnings, says UBS
- Negative Sentiment: Bank of America reiterated an Underperform rating with a $160 target, signaling that some analysts remain cautious on the stock despite Salesforce’s strong market position. BofA Maintains Underperform Rating on Salesforce (CRM)
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.
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