Diversified Trust Co. Cuts Position in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Diversified Trust Co. trimmed its position in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 13.5% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 16,895 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 2,645 shares during the quarter. Diversified Trust Co.’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $4,476,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Aspire Growth Partners LLC lifted its stake in Salesforce by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Aspire Growth Partners LLC now owns 3,355 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $795,000 after acquiring an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. Abacus Planning Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Salesforce by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. Abacus Planning Group Inc. now owns 1,420 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $337,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares during the period. Code Waechter LLC grew its position in Salesforce by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter. Code Waechter LLC now owns 871 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $209,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Capital A Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Salesforce by 40.9% during the second quarter. Capital A Wealth Management LLC now owns 155 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the period. Finally, ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. increased its stake in Salesforce by 4.9% during the third quarter. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 961 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $228,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the period. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Salesforce Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of NYSE:CRM opened at $195.12 on Tuesday. Salesforce Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $174.57 and a fifty-two week high of $296.05. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $202.64 and its 200 day moving average price is $232.53. 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 cap of $180.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.29.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 analysts’ expectations of $11.18 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $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. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 dividend of $0.44 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 9th. This is an increase from Salesforce’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Salesforce’s payout ratio is presently 21.25%.

Salesforce declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Monday, March 16th that allows the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the CRM provider to repurchase up to 14.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $265.00 to $252.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. KeyCorp cut their target price on shares of Salesforce from $400.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 24th. Arete Research upgraded shares of Salesforce to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 11th. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Salesforce from $260.00 to $200.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Finally, BTIG Research cut their price objective on Salesforce from $260.00 to $255.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. One research 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $280.21.

Insider Activity at Salesforce

In other Salesforce news, Director Laura Alber acquired 2,571 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 19th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $194.58 per share, with a total value of $500,265.18. Following the transaction, the director owned 9,530 shares in the company, valued at $1,854,347.40. The trade was a 36.94% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director David Blair Kirk acquired 2,570 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $194.62 per share, for a total transaction of $500,173.40. Following the acquisition, the director owned 13,689 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,664,153.18. The trade was a 23.11% increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. 3.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.