Vulcan Value Partners LLC Reduces Stock Position in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Posted by on May 28th, 2026

Vulcan Value Partners LLC lessened its holdings in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM – Free Report) by 0.9% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 1,549,871 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 14,486 shares during the period. Salesforce makes up 7.4% of Vulcan Value Partners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. Vulcan Value Partners LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $411,064,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Salesforce by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 89,843,166 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $23,800,353,000 after buying an additional 270,913 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its position in Salesforce by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 49,420,657 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $11,732,966,000 after buying an additional 159,739 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position 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 buying an additional 791,345 shares during the period. Capital International Investors increased its position in Salesforce by 9.4% during the 3rd quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 20,051,119 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $4,753,519,000 after buying an additional 1,729,440 shares during the period. Finally, Capital World Investors increased its position in Salesforce by 159.0% during the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 17,325,206 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $4,106,255,000 after buying an additional 10,636,161 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

  • Positive Sentiment: Salesforce beat expectations on both earnings and revenue, posting $3.88 EPS on $11.13 billion in revenue, while revenue grew 13% year over year. The company also lifted full-year profit guidance, which supports the case that its core business is still healthy. Reuters article
  • Positive Sentiment: AI-related momentum remains a bright spot, with Salesforce saying Agentforce annualized revenue passed $1 billion and that AI-powered software adoption is helping growth. Investors may see this as evidence that Salesforce can monetize AI rather than just be disrupted by it. CNBC article
  • Positive Sentiment: Management said it plans to keep investing in customer-facing growth and buy back shares, which could help support the stock if execution improves. CNBC article
  • Neutral Sentiment: Despite the beat, Salesforce’s second-quarter revenue guidance was only around in line to slightly below expectations, which helps explain why the stock reaction has been muted rather than strongly positive. Investopedia article
  • Negative Sentiment: Investors are still focused on the bigger AI disruption risk, and commentary from recent coverage suggests the market remains uncertain about whether Salesforce can defend its software franchise as AI reshapes enterprise buying patterns. Proactive Investors article

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on CRM. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $400.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Citigroup reiterated a “market outperform” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday. Wall Street Zen cut Salesforce from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 18th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, Oppenheimer lowered their price objective on Salesforce from $275.00 to $250.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have assigned a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $272.73.

Get Our Latest Stock Analysis on CRM

Salesforce Stock Down 0.7%

Shares of NYSE CRM opened at $177.86 on Thursday. 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 $163.52 and a 52 week high of $278.81. The stock has a market capitalization of $145.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.77, a PEG ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.14. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $181.23 and its 200 day moving average is $211.16.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 27th. The CRM provider reported $3.88 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.13 by $0.75. Salesforce had a return on equity of 15.38% and a net margin of 17.96%.The company had revenue of $11.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.05 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.58 earnings per share. Salesforce’s revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 14.060-14.120 EPS and its Q2 2027 guidance at 3.250-3.270 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Salesforce Inc. will post 9.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Monday, March 16th that allows the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the CRM provider to purchase up to 14.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director David Blair Kirk purchased 2,570 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were bought at an average price of $194.62 per share, for a total transaction of $500,173.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 13,689 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,664,153.18. This trade represents a 23.11% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Laura Alber purchased 2,571 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 19th. The stock was bought at an average price of $194.58 per share, for a total transaction of $500,265.18. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 9,530 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,854,347.40. This trade represents a 36.94% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. 3.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Salesforce Profile

(Free Report)

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.

Featured Stories

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Institutional Ownership by Quarter for Salesforce (NYSE:CRM)

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