Crawford Investment Counsel Inc. grew its position in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM – Free Report) by 26.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 79,296 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 16,443 shares during the period. Crawford Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $21,006,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of CRM. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Board of the Pension Protection Fund acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Key Capital Management INC acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Gilpin Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Finally, Legacy Bridge LLC acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
Several analysts recently commented on CRM shares. Bank of America started coverage on Salesforce in a report on Monday, May 18th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $160.00 target price on the stock. Citizens Jmp reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $315.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, May 28th. KeyCorp dropped their target price on Salesforce from $300.00 to $290.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 28th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, June 4th. Finally, BTIG Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $255.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have given 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 stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $259.26.
Salesforce News Summary
Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:
- Positive Sentiment: Salesforce is deepening its push into agentic AI by acquiring Fin, an AI customer-service platform that handles queries across chat, email, WhatsApp, SMS, phone and Slack. Investors are viewing the deal as a strategic step that could strengthen Salesforce’s position in the fast-growing AI automation market. Reuters article
- Positive Sentiment: Analysts at firms including Wedbush, Canaccord Genuity and Needham reaffirmed bullish views, with price targets well above the current share price, suggesting Wall Street sees meaningful upside if Salesforce’s AI strategy gains traction. Benzinga article
- Positive Sentiment: Commentary around Salesforce’s strong cash generation, rising margins and a $50 billion buyback plan is supporting the investment case by highlighting its ability to fund acquisitions while still returning capital to shareholders. Yahoo Finance article
- Neutral Sentiment: Wedbush said the Fin purchase shows Salesforce is moving faster than expected to secure the AI agent market, but investors are still waiting to see whether these acquisitions translate into faster revenue growth and better returns. Proactive Investors article
- Negative Sentiment: Some coverage is focusing on Salesforce’s steep share-price decline over the past year and the concern that its acquisition-heavy strategy has not yet restored investor confidence, keeping pressure on CRM stock. Invezz article
Insider Buying and Selling at Salesforce
In other news, Director Laura Alber bought 2,571 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 19th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $194.58 per share, for a total transaction of $500,265.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 9,530 shares in the company, valued at $1,854,347.40. The trade was a 36.94% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 3.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.
Salesforce Stock Performance
Shares of CRM stock opened at $161.74 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $132.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.72, a P/E/G ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.16. The business’s 50 day moving average is $179.14 and its two-hundred day moving average is $205.79. 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 Inc. has a 12-month low of $160.50 and a 12-month high of $276.80.
Salesforce (NYSE:CRM – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 27th. The CRM provider reported $3.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.13 by $0.75. Salesforce had a return on equity of 18.72% and a net margin of 18.73%.The company had revenue of $11.13 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.05 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.58 earnings per share. Salesforce’s revenue for the quarter 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. Analysts expect that Salesforce Inc. will post 10.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Salesforce Announces Dividend
The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 11th will be given a $0.44 dividend. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 11th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.37%.
Salesforce declared that its board has authorized 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 buy up to 14.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically 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.
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