3,665 Shares in Salesforce Inc. $CRM Purchased by AK Global Asset Management LLC

AK Global Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm acquired 3,665 shares of the CRM provider’s stock, valued at approximately $971,000. Salesforce accounts for about 0.8% of AK Global Asset Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest position.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Board of the Pension Protection Fund acquired a new stake in Salesforce during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Salesforce during the second quarter worth about $27,000. Marquette Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Salesforce during the third quarter worth about $26,000. Texas Capital Bancshares Inc TX acquired a new stake in Salesforce during the third quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, Dorato Capital Management acquired a new stake in Salesforce during the fourth quarter worth about $39,000. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Salesforce Price Performance

Shares of CRM opened at $183.00 on Wednesday. Salesforce Inc. has a 1-year low of $174.57 and a 1-year high of $296.05. The stock has a market cap of $168.91 billion, a PE ratio of 23.43, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.29. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $192.75 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $227.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.76.

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 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 business 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. The business’s revenue for the quarter 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, analysts forecast that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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 represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. This is an increase from Salesforce’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 9th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.25%.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $235.00 to $210.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Mizuho cut their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $280.00 to $265.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on shares of Salesforce from $300.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Monday, December 29th. 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 given a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $280.21.

Insider Activity at Salesforce

In other Salesforce news, Director Laura Alber acquired 2,571 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 19th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $194.58 per share, for a total transaction of $500,265.18. Following the completion of the acquisition, 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 acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director David Blair Kirk acquired 2,570 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $194.62 per share, with a total value of $500,173.40. Following the acquisition, the director directly 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 disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Company insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

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.