5,201 Shares in Salesforce Inc. $CRM Purchased by Beacon Investment Advisors LLC

Key Points

• Beacon Investment Advisors LLC opened a new position in Salesforce, buying 5,201 shares worth about $1.38 million in the fourth quarter.
• Institutional ownership of Salesforce remains very high, with large investors like Vanguard, State Street, and Capital International also increasing their stakes; overall, 80.43% of the stock is held by institutions and hedge funds.
• Salesforce recently reported better-than-expected quarterly results, including EPS of $3.88 versus the $3.13 estimate, and it also approved a $25 billion share buyback along with a quarterly dividend of $0.44 per share.

Beacon Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position 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 institutional investor purchased 5,201 shares of the CRM provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,378,000.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of 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 grew its stake in Salesforce by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 50,080,230 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $13,286,909,000 after acquiring an additional 659,573 shares during the period. Capital International Investors grew its stake in Salesforce by 13.3% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 22,721,010 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $6,019,199,000 after acquiring an additional 2,669,891 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Salesforce by 3.8% in 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 acquiring an additional 791,345 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors increased its holdings in Salesforce by 13.5% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 19,672,684 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $5,211,515,000 after acquiring an additional 2,347,478 shares in the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Salesforce

In related news, Director Laura Alber acquired 2,571 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 19th. The shares were purchased 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 owned 9,530 shares in the company, valued at $1,854,347.40. This represents a 36.94% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 3.50% of the company's stock.

Salesforce Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CRM opened at $161.74 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $179.14 and a 200-day simple moving average of $205.79. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $132.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.16. Salesforce Inc. has a 52 week low of $160.50 and a 52 week high of $276.80.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 27th. The CRM provider reported $3.88 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.13 by $0.75. The firm had revenue of $11.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.05 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 18.73% and a return on equity of 18.72%. Salesforce's quarterly revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.58 earnings per share. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 14.060-14.120 EPS and its Q2 2027 guidance at 3.250-3.270 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Salesforce Inc. will post 10.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase 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 buy up to 14.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 11th. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. Salesforce's dividend payout ratio is 20.37%.

Key Salesforce News

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

CRM has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group reaffirmed a "market outperform" rating on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, May 28th. Citigroup reissued a "market outperform" rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Salesforce from $365.00 to $320.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Mizuho lowered their price objective on Salesforce from $280.00 to $265.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, DA Davidson lowered their price objective on Salesforce from $200.00 to $175.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 28th. One 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 given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $259.26.

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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