OFI Invest Asset Management Sells 34,722 Shares of Salesforce Inc. $CRM

OFI Invest Asset Management trimmed its position in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 13.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 226,542 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 34,722 shares during the period. Salesforce comprises 0.8% of OFI Invest Asset Management’s portfolio, making the stock its 26th biggest holding. OFI Invest Asset Management’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $60,013,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Salesforce by 0.8% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 89,572,253 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $21,228,624,000 after purchasing an additional 748,772 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in Salesforce by 0.3% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 49,420,657 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $11,732,966,000 after purchasing an additional 159,739 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its position in Salesforce by 9.4% in the third quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 20,051,119 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $4,753,519,000 after purchasing an additional 1,729,440 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its position in Salesforce by 159.0% in the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 17,325,206 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $4,106,255,000 after purchasing an additional 10,636,161 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in Salesforce by 11.8% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 7,155,512 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,695,856,000 after purchasing an additional 754,116 shares during the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Salesforce Stock Down 3.7%

NYSE CRM opened at $176.18 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $191.71 and its 200 day moving average is $227.44. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. Salesforce Inc. has a 12 month low of $174.57 and a 12 month high of $296.05. The stock has a market cap of $162.62 billion, a PE ratio of 22.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.29.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $11.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.18 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.78 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 13.110-13.190 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 3.110-3.130 EPS. Research analysts predict that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Salesforce Increases Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Salesforce news, Director Laura Alber purchased 2,571 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 19th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $194.58 per share, with a total value of $500,265.18. Following the acquisition, the director owned 9,530 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,854,347.40. This trade represents a 36.94% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director David Blair Kirk purchased 2,570 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was acquired at an average cost 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 in the company, valued at $2,664,153.18. This represents a 23.11% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. 3.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on CRM. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Salesforce from $235.00 to $210.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. BTIG Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $255.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Wednesday, April 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Salesforce from $365.00 to $320.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have issued a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $280.21.

Salesforce 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.