Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC Purchases 3,624 Shares of Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 9.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 42,724 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,624 shares during the period. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $11,318,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of CRM. Board of the Pension Protection Fund purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce during the second quarter valued at about $27,000. Marquette Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Salesforce in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Texas Capital Bancshares Inc TX purchased a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Finally, Dorato Capital Management bought a new position in shares of Salesforce during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Price Performance

Shares of CRM opened at $187.01 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $194.55 and its 200-day moving average price is $228.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $172.61 billion, a PE ratio of 23.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.29. Salesforce Inc. has a 1-year low of $174.57 and a 1-year high of $296.05. 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.05 by $0.76. The business had revenue of $11.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.18 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 17.96% and a return on equity of 15.38%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.78 EPS. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 13.110-13.190 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 3.110-3.130 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.44 per share. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 9th. This is a positive change from Salesforce’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is 21.25%.

Salesforce announced that its board has approved 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 stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CRM has been the subject of several research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $365.00 to $320.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $281.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Salesforce from $265.00 to $252.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on Salesforce from $375.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on Salesforce from $197.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have issued a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $280.21.

Insider Transactions at Salesforce

In other news, Director Laura Alber bought 2,571 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 19th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $194.58 per share, for a total transaction of $500,265.18. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 9,530 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,854,347.40. This trade represents a 36.94% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Neelie Kroes sold 3,893 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $238.70, for a total transaction of $929,259.10. Following the sale, the director owned 7,299 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,742,271.30. This represents a 34.78% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Corporate insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

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.