Brookstone Capital Management Buys 17,034 Shares of Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Brookstone Capital Management grew its stake in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 20.5% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 100,020 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after buying an additional 17,034 shares during the quarter. Brookstone Capital Management’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $26,496,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Aspire Growth Partners LLC increased its position in Salesforce by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Aspire Growth Partners LLC now owns 3,355 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $795,000 after buying an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. Abacus Planning Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Salesforce by 3.1% in the third quarter. Abacus Planning Group Inc. now owns 1,420 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $337,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Salesforce by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC now owns 4,331 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,147,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares during the period. Code Waechter LLC increased its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 5.3% during the third 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. Finally, Capital A Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 40.9% during the second quarter. Capital A Wealth Management LLC now owns 155 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Salesforce

In related news, Director David Blair Kirk acquired 2,570 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the acquisition, the director owned 13,689 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,664,153.18. This represents a 23.11% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Laura Alber acquired 2,571 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 19th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $194.58 per share, for a total transaction of $500,265.18. Following the transaction, the director owned 9,530 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,854,347.40. This trade represents a 36.94% increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. 3.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on CRM shares. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on Salesforce from $235.00 to $225.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Salesforce from $235.00 to $210.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $365.00 to $320.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Canaccord Genuity Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $300.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, December 4th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their target price on shares of Salesforce from $290.00 to $210.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. One research 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 issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $280.21.

Salesforce Stock Performance

Shares of CRM opened at $185.02 on Tuesday. 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 company has a market capitalization of $170.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.69, a PEG ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.29. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $197.56 and a 200 day moving average of $230.21. 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 data on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.05 by $0.76. The business had revenue of $11.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.18 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 15.38% and a net margin of 17.96%.The business’s revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.78 earnings per share. 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 7.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Monday, March 16th that permits the company to buyback $25.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the CRM provider to purchase up to 14.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The business 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 $0.44 dividend. This is an increase from Salesforce’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 9th. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. Salesforce’s payout ratio is presently 21.25%.

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.