Busey Bank Acquires 25,628 Shares of Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Busey Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 1,700.6% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 27,135 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 25,628 shares during the quarter. Busey Bank’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $5,065,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Collaborative Fund Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Salesforce in the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,595,000. Nvest Financial LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 8.3% during the 1st quarter. Nvest Financial LLC now owns 4,419 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $825,000 after buying an additional 340 shares during the period. Kathmere Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 91.6% in the 1st quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC now owns 2,868 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $535,000 after buying an additional 1,371 shares during the last quarter. Abel Hall LLC boosted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 7.3% in the 1st quarter. Abel Hall LLC now owns 2,464 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $460,000 after buying an additional 168 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bogart Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 22.9% in the first quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC now owns 1,096 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $205,000 after acquiring an additional 204 shares during the period. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Salesforce Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of CRM stock opened at $165.94 on Monday. Salesforce Inc. has a 52-week low of $146.32 and a 52-week high of $276.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $135.90 billion, a PE ratio of 19.21, a PEG ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.18. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $173.23 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $197.31.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 27th. The CRM provider reported $3.88 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.13 by $0.75. Salesforce had a return on equity of 18.72% and a net margin of 18.73%.The business had revenue of $11.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.05 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.58 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 14.060-14.120 EPS and its Q2 2027 guidance at 3.250-3.270 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Salesforce Inc. will post 10.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Monday, March 16th that authorizes the company to buyback $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the CRM provider to buy up to 14.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Investors of record on Thursday, June 11th were issued a $0.44 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 11th. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.1%. Salesforce’s payout ratio is currently 20.37%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on CRM. Citizens Jmp reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $315.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, May 28th. Barclays upgraded Salesforce from an “overweight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. UBS Group assumed coverage on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Wednesday. They issued an “overweight” rating on the stock. Susquehanna began coverage on shares of Salesforce in a report on Wednesday. They issued a “neutral” rating on the stock. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered shares of Salesforce from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have assigned a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $254.42.

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.