SG Americas Securities LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

SG Americas Securities LLC increased its stake in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 86.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,484,818 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after buying an additional 689,593 shares during the quarter. Salesforce comprises approximately 0.5% of SG Americas Securities LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 24th largest holding. SG Americas Securities LLC owned approximately 0.16% of Salesforce worth $393,343,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Marquette Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce during the 3rd quarter worth about $26,000. Board of the Pension Protection Fund purchased a new stake in Salesforce in the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in Salesforce in the second quarter worth about $27,000. Texas Capital Bancshares Inc TX purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce during the third quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Finally, Country Trust Bank boosted its position in shares of Salesforce by 658.8% during the second quarter. Country Trust Bank now owns 129 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 112 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of NYSE:CRM opened at $195.12 on Tuesday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $202.64 and its 200 day moving average is $232.53. The stock has a market cap of $180.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.29. Salesforce Inc. has a 52-week low of $174.57 and a 52-week high of $296.05. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last issued its 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 return on equity of 15.38% and a net margin of 17.96%.The business had revenue of $11.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.18 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.78 EPS. Salesforce’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. Sell-side analysts predict 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 paid a $0.44 dividend. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. This is a boost from Salesforce’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 9th. Salesforce’s payout ratio is currently 22.54%.

Salesforce announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Monday, March 16th that authorizes the company to buyback $25.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the CRM provider to reacquire up to 14.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CRM has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their price target on Salesforce from $223.00 to $194.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $375.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. Evercore cut their price objective on Salesforce from $360.00 to $340.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on Salesforce from $325.00 to $315.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $281.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. One 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $280.21.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Neelie Kroes sold 3,893 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $238.70, for a total value of $929,259.10. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 7,299 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,742,271.30. This represents a 34.78% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Laura Alber acquired 2,571 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 19th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $194.58 per share, for a total transaction of $500,265.18. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 9,530 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,854,347.40. This 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 insiders.

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.