71 West Capital Partners Makes New $8.73 Million Investment in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Key Points

• 71 West Capital Partners opened a new position in Salesforce, buying 32,946 shares valued at about $8.73 million in the fourth quarter.
• Other institutional investors also added to their Salesforce holdings, and about 80.43% of the stock is now owned by hedge funds and other institutions.
• Salesforce reported solid recent results, including 13.3% revenue growth to $11.13 billion and earnings that beat estimates, while analysts still hold a Moderate Buy consensus with an average price target of $259.26.

71 West Capital Partners bought a new position in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 32,946 shares of the CRM provider's stock, valued at approximately $8,728,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Byrne Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC now owns 4,331 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $1,147,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Mathes Company Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Mathes Company Inc. now owns 12,558 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $2,976,000 after buying an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 14,943 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $3,548,000 after buying an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,372 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $325,000 after buying an additional 46 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fulcrum Asset Management LLP increased its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Fulcrum Asset Management LLP now owns 2,774 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $657,000 after buying an additional 46 shares during the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Salesforce news, Director David Blair Kirk purchased 2,570 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $194.62 per share, with a total value of $500,173.40. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 13,689 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,664,153.18. The trade was a 23.11% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Laura Alber purchased 2,571 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 19th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $194.58 per share, with a total value 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 trade represents a 36.94% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Company insiders own 3.50% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CRM has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Daiwa Securities Group decreased their price target on shares of Salesforce from $295.00 to $280.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of Salesforce in a report on Monday, May 18th. They issued an "underperform" rating and a $160.00 price target on the stock. BTIG Research reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $255.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. DA Davidson decreased their price target on shares of Salesforce from $200.00 to $175.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 28th. Finally, Mizuho reduced their target price on shares of Salesforce from $280.00 to $265.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have issued a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Salesforce has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $259.26.

More Salesforce News

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce’s acquisition of Fin should strengthen its AI agent offerings and expand its ability to automate customer service across chat, email, WhatsApp, SMS, voice, and Slack, which could improve long-term growth prospects. Reuters: Salesforce to buy Fin for about $3.6 billion
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts said the Fin deal reinforces Salesforce’s AI strategy and may ease concerns about slowing software demand by giving CRM a stronger product story in autonomous customer support. Yahoo Finance: Salesforce's $3.6 Billion Fin Acquisition Strengthens AI Strategy, Wedbush Says
• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce’s latest results showed 13% year-over-year revenue growth to $11.1 billion and margin expansion, while management remains upbeat about faster second-half growth driven by Agentforce adoption and AI integration. Seeking Alpha: Salesforce Is Consuming Everything Between AI And Itself
• Neutral Sentiment: Several market commentary pieces and analyst comparisons highlighted CRM as relatively attractive versus peers on valuation and AI momentum, but these are more supportive context than immediate catalysts. Zacks: ServiceNow vs. Salesforce
• Negative Sentiment: Salesforce remains below key moving averages and has recently been trading near its 12-month low, showing that investors are still weighing execution risk and broader skepticism about software growth. Seeking Alpha: Salesforce: A New Breakdown Point Could Be Coming Fast

Salesforce Trading Down 0.9%

NYSE:CRM opened at $164.45 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $179.65 and a 200-day moving average price of $206.26. Salesforce Inc. has a 12 month low of $161.40 and a 12 month high of $276.80. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. The stock has a market cap of $134.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.03, a P/E/G ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.16.

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

Salesforce declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Monday, March 16th that allows the company to buyback $25.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the CRM provider to repurchase up to 14.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The business 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 of this dividend is Thursday, June 11th. Salesforce's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.37%.

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.

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