Stephens Inc. AR Has $9.71 Million Stock Position in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Stephens Inc. AR reduced its position in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 9.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 51,547 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 5,261 shares during the period. Stephens Inc. AR’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $9,714,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in CRM. Byrne Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Salesforce by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC now owns 4,331 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,147,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the period. Fred Alger Management LLC raised its position in shares of Salesforce by 0.3% in the third quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 14,943 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $3,548,000 after buying an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Fulcrum Asset Management LLP boosted its stake in Salesforce by 1.7% during the third quarter. Fulcrum Asset Management LLP now owns 2,774 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $657,000 after buying an additional 46 shares during the period. Pine Haven Investment Counsel Inc grew its position in Salesforce by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Pine Haven Investment Counsel Inc now owns 3,152 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $835,000 after buying an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Richards Merrill & Peterson Inc. grew its position in Salesforce by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Richards Merrill & Peterson Inc. now owns 4,239 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,123,000 after buying an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have weighed in on CRM shares. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Salesforce from $210.00 to $200.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 28th. Barclays upgraded shares of Salesforce from an “overweight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Royal Bank Of Canada downgraded shares of Salesforce from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Susquehanna began coverage on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. They set a “neutral” rating for the company. Finally, HC Wainwright lowered shares of Salesforce to a “negative” rating in a report on Thursday, June 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have given a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Salesforce presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $254.42.

Salesforce Trading Up 3.0%

Shares of Salesforce stock traded up $4.94 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $170.59. 3,199,266 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 13,906,021. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $173.23 and a 200-day moving average of $197.31. Salesforce Inc. has a 12 month low of $146.32 and a 12 month high of $276.80. The company has a market cap of $139.71 billion, a PE ratio of 19.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79.

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

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 11th were paid a $0.44 dividend. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 11th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.37%.

Salesforce declared that its Board of Directors 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 stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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.