Quintet Private Bank Europe S.A. Decreases Stake in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Quintet Private Bank Europe S.A. lessened its stake in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 54.7% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 5,672 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 6,852 shares during the quarter. Quintet Private Bank Europe S.A.’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $1,503,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Aspiriant LLC raised its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 180.2% in the fourth quarter. Aspiriant LLC now owns 11,627 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $3,080,000 after buying an additional 7,477 shares during the last quarter. Essex LLC grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 15.2% during the fourth quarter. Essex LLC now owns 3,794 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,005,000 after buying an additional 501 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Management Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the fourth quarter valued at $201,000. Aspire Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in Salesforce by 30.3% in the 4th quarter. Aspire Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,281 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $339,000 after acquiring an additional 298 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Udine Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Salesforce during the 4th quarter worth about $2,660,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of CRM opened at $187.01 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $172.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.94, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.29. Salesforce Inc. has a 52 week low of $174.57 and a 52 week high of $296.05. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $194.55 and its 200-day moving average price is $228.83. 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 (NYSE:CRM) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 return on equity of 15.38% and a net margin of 17.96%.The company had revenue of $11.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.18 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.78 earnings per share. Salesforce’s quarterly revenue 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. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 9th will be paid a $0.44 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 9th. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. This is an increase from Salesforce’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.25%.

Salesforce declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Monday, March 16th that allows the company to buyback $25.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the CRM provider to repurchase up to 14.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on CRM. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Salesforce from $365.00 to $320.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on Salesforce from $375.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Salesforce from $398.00 to $287.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Finally, Truist Financial set a $280.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. One investment 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 issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Salesforce has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $280.21.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Neelie Kroes sold 3,893 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $238.70, for a total transaction of $929,259.10. Following the sale, the director owned 7,299 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,742,271.30. This trade represents a 34.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Laura Alber acquired 2,571 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 19th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $194.58 per share, with a total value 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. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. 3.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.