Hikari Tsushin Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM – Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 3,634 shares of the CRM provider’s stock, valued at approximately $963,000.
Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Salesforce by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 89,843,166 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $23,800,353,000 after purchasing an additional 270,913 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in Salesforce by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 49,420,657 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $11,732,966,000 after purchasing an additional 159,739 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its holdings in Salesforce by 13.3% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 22,721,010 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $6,019,199,000 after purchasing an additional 2,669,891 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Salesforce by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 21,782,556 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $5,751,073,000 after purchasing an additional 791,345 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors raised its position in shares of Salesforce by 13.5% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 19,672,684 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $5,211,515,000 after purchasing an additional 2,347,478 shares in the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Salesforce Stock Performance
CRM stock opened at $166.81 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $180.50 and its 200 day simple moving average is $207.18. Salesforce Inc. has a 12-month low of $163.31 and a 12-month high of $276.80. The firm has a market cap of $136.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.31, a P/E/G ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15.
Salesforce Announces Dividend
The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 11th will be issued a $0.44 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 11th. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.1%. Salesforce’s payout ratio is 20.37%.
Salesforce announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Monday, March 16th that authorizes the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the CRM provider to repurchase up to 14.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $400.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Salesforce from $210.00 to $200.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 28th. Northland Securities reduced their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $267.00 to $229.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 10th. KeyCorp decreased their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $300.00 to $290.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 28th. Finally, Citigroup restated a “market outperform” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have assigned a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $259.26.
Insider Transactions at Salesforce
In other Salesforce news, Director David Blair Kirk acquired 2,570 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $194.62 per share, for a total transaction of $500,173.40. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 13,689 shares in the company, valued at $2,664,153.18. The trade was a 23.11% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Laura Alber bought 2,571 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 19th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $194.58 per share, for a total transaction of $500,265.18. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 9,530 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,854,347.40. The trade was a 36.94% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. 3.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.
Key Headlines Impacting Salesforce
Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:
- Positive Sentiment: Salesforce’s Agentforce annual recurring revenue has surged to $1.2 billion, up 205% year over year, suggesting its AI push is gaining real traction and could support longer-term growth. Salesforce’s AI Business Is Growing More Than 200%, but the Stock Is Near a 52-Week Low. Something Has to Give.
- Positive Sentiment: Salesforce’s acquisition of m3ter should help expand usage-based AI revenue by improving metering and billing for Agentforce and other AI products, which may open new monetization opportunities. Salesforce m3ter Deal Highlights Shift Toward Usage Based AI Revenue
- Positive Sentiment: Reports that Salesforce’s stake in Anthropic has risen to about $5 billion highlight its strategic exposure to a leading AI startup and reinforce the company’s commitment to AI investment. Salesforce’s Anthropic Stake Reportedly Reaches $5 Billion as AI Startup Eyes IPO, Bloomberg Reports
- Neutral Sentiment: TitanX expanded its Salesforce integration with automated phone intent scoring and contact enrichment, which is incremental ecosystem news but not likely to move CRM shares by itself. TitanX Expands Salesforce and HubSpot Integrations with Automated Phone Intent™ Scoring and Contact Enrichment
- Negative Sentiment: Several recent articles note that Salesforce stock is still sliding, near a 52-week low, and that investors remain skeptical despite AI growth, reflecting ongoing valuation and execution concerns. Our Salesforce Stock Pick Has Flopped. We’re Moving On.
- Negative Sentiment: Broader cloud-stock weakness, highlighted by Oracle’s sharp decline after earnings, is adding sector pressure that can weigh on Salesforce even when company-specific news is positive. Oracle Plunges 10% After Earnings, Salesforce Slips Near 52-Week Lows as Cloud Stocks Slide
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.
Recommended Stories
- Five stocks we like better than Salesforce
- Microsoft Just Gave Investors 3 Dates They Can’t Afford to Ignore
- NVIDIA’s Outlook Gains Momentum: Stock Price to Follow
- The World Cup Is Coming—These 3 Stocks Could Cash In
- Spotify’s “North Star” Outlook Was Music to Investors Ears
Want to see what other hedge funds are holding CRM? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM – Free Report).
Receive News & Ratings for Salesforce Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Salesforce and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter.
