Cullen Investment Group LTD. lowered its stake in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM – Free Report) by 19.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 12,437 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 2,938 shares during the period. Cullen Investment Group LTD.’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $3,233,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.
A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in CRM. Marquette Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Salesforce in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Board of the Pension Protection Fund acquired a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the second quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Texas Capital Bancshares Inc TX acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce in the third quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, Country Trust Bank raised its stake in shares of Salesforce by 658.8% in the second quarter. Country Trust Bank now owns 129 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 112 shares in the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Insider Transactions at Salesforce
In other Salesforce news, Director Laura Alber purchased 2,571 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 19th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $194.58 per share, for a total transaction of $500,265.18. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 9,530 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,854,347.40. The trade was a 36.94% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 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 value of $929,259.10. Following the sale, the director directly owned 7,299 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,742,271.30. This represents a 34.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 3.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.
Key Salesforce News
- Positive Sentiment: A large customer rollout: Adecco is deploying Salesforce’s Agentforce 360 and Agentforce Voice across global recruiting operations, a commercial validation of Salesforce’s AI products that supports future ARR growth and upsell potential. Adecco’s Agentforce Rollout Puts Salesforce’s AI Story To The Test
- Positive Sentiment: Product expansion: Salesforce has integrated Agentforce for Small Business into its Suites, broadening the go-to-market footprint for its AI agent products and creating more cross-sell opportunities to smaller customers. Agentforce for Small Business is Now Built Into Salesforce Suites
- Positive Sentiment: Share-buyback support: Reports say Salesforce expanded buybacks after recent share weakness, a shareholder-friendly move that can support EPS and signal management confidence. These 3 Beaten-Down Stocks Just Announced Massive Share Buybacks
- Neutral Sentiment: Acquisition integration: Salesforce granted equity awards to Apromore hires under its inducement plan — routine for M&A hires and neutral for near-term cash flow but useful for integration. Salesforce Grants Equity Awards to Apromore Under Its Inducement Equity Incentive Plan
- Neutral Sentiment: Compensation changes: An internal memo says Salesforce will skip base raises for director-level and above but increase stock/bonus pools for top performers — a cost-managing move that prioritizes variable pay and may help margins but could affect morale. Salesforce isn’t giving raises to director-level and above employees this year, internal memo shows
- Negative Sentiment: AI competition fear: Shares fell after Anthropic unveiled Claude’s ability to control computers (imitate keystrokes/mouse), reviving investor concerns that more capable AI assistants could erode incumbent software moats. Why Salesforce (CRM) Shares Are Getting Obliterated Today
- Negative Sentiment: Revenue miss headlines: Coverage highlighted Salesforce’s first revenue shortfall in years, which amplified the selloff and raised near-term growth concerns despite previous quarterly beats and FY guidance. Salesforce (CRM) Tumbles 6% Following First Revenue Shortfall in Nearly Two Decades
- Negative Sentiment: Sector-wide AI jitters: Broader software selloff (including ServiceNow) on renewed AI disruption fears pressured CRM shares as investors reprice risk across enterprise software. Salesforce and Other Software Stocks Are Plummeting as AI Jitters Return
Salesforce Stock Down 0.7%
Shares of NYSE:CRM opened at $181.69 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $200.32 and its 200-day moving average is $231.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.76. Salesforce Inc. has a 52 week low of $174.57 and a 52 week high of $296.05. The company has a market capitalization of $167.70 billion, a PE ratio of 23.26, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.29.
Salesforce (NYSE:CRM – Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.05 by $0.76. The business had revenue of $11.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.18 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 17.96% and a return on equity of 15.38%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $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. Equities research analysts predict that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Salesforce declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Monday, March 16th that authorizes the company to buyback $25.00 billion in outstanding 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 generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.
Salesforce Increases Dividend
The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 1.0%. This is an increase from Salesforce’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 9th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is presently 21.25%.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
CRM has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Arete Research upgraded shares of Salesforce to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $235.00 to $225.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $375.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. BTIG Research lowered their target price on shares of Salesforce from $260.00 to $255.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, KeyCorp dropped their price target on shares of Salesforce from $400.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. One equities research 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 assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price 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.
See Also
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