Jefferson Bridge Capital LLC Makes New Investment in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Jefferson Bridge Capital LLC purchased a new position in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor purchased 6,314 shares of the CRM provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,673,000. Salesforce makes up approximately 1.7% of Jefferson Bridge Capital LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 25th biggest holding.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Salesforce by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 89,572,253 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $21,228,624,000 after buying an additional 748,772 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in Salesforce by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 49,420,657 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $11,732,966,000 after buying an additional 159,739 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its stake in Salesforce by 9.4% in the 3rd quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 20,051,119 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $4,753,519,000 after buying an additional 1,729,440 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its stake in Salesforce by 159.0% in the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 17,325,206 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $4,106,255,000 after buying an additional 10,636,161 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in Salesforce by 11.8% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 7,155,512 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,695,856,000 after buying an additional 754,116 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Salesforce

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 transaction of $929,259.10. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly 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 SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Laura Alber purchased 2,571 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 19th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $194.58 per share, with a total value of $500,265.18. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 9,530 shares in the company, valued at $1,854,347.40. The trade was a 36.94% increase in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. 3.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Salesforce Price Performance

Shares of Salesforce stock opened at $183.00 on Wednesday. Salesforce Inc. has a 52-week low of $174.57 and a 52-week high of $296.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $168.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a fifty day moving average of $192.75 and a 200-day moving average of $227.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.76.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $11.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.18 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.78 EPS. The firm’s 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. Equities research analysts expect that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce announced that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Monday, March 16th that permits the company to buyback $25.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the CRM provider to repurchase up to 14.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Wolfe Research reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, January 15th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $197.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Truist Financial set a $280.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $260.00 to $200.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Finally, KeyCorp cut their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $400.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average 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.