Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH Buys 63,777 Shares of Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH boosted its stake in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 4.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,417,447 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 63,777 shares during the quarter. Salesforce comprises approximately 0.6% of Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest position. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $375,619,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Aspire Growth Partners LLC boosted its position in Salesforce by 1.2% during the third quarter. Aspire Growth Partners LLC now owns 3,355 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $795,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares during the period. Abacus Planning Group Inc. boosted its position in Salesforce by 3.1% during the third quarter. Abacus Planning Group Inc. now owns 1,420 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $337,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the period. Byrne Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Salesforce by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC now owns 4,331 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,147,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the period. Code Waechter LLC boosted its position in Salesforce by 5.3% during the third quarter. Code Waechter LLC now owns 871 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $209,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the period. Finally, ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. boosted its position in Salesforce by 4.9% during the third quarter. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 961 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $228,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the period. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Salesforce Stock Up 0.5%

CRM stock opened at $187.17 on Wednesday. Salesforce Inc. has a 52 week low of $163.52 and a 52 week high of $296.05. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $187.58 and a 200 day simple moving average of $223.21. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The company has a market cap of $153.14 billion, a PE ratio of 23.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.29.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.05 by $0.76. Salesforce had a net margin of 17.96% and a return on equity of 15.38%. The firm had revenue of $11.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.18 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.78 EPS. The business’s quarterly 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. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Salesforce Inc. will post 9.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Shareholders 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. This is an increase from Salesforce’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. Salesforce’s payout ratio is 22.54%.

Salesforce declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Monday, March 16th that permits the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the CRM provider to purchase up to 14.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on CRM shares. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $375.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. Mizuho reduced their target price on shares of Salesforce from $280.00 to $265.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. BTIG Research reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $255.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Friday, April 17th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Salesforce from $398.00 to $287.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $279.18.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director David Blair Kirk bought 2,570 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $194.62 per share, with a total value of $500,173.40. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 13,689 shares in the company, valued at $2,664,153.18. This represents a 23.11% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Laura Alber bought 2,571 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of 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 disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. 3.00% of the stock is owned by company 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.