Baillie Gifford & Co. Sells 57,548 Shares of Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Key Points

• Baillie Gifford & Co. trimmed its stake in Salesforce by 5.1%, selling 57,548 shares in Q4 and now holds 1,062,815 shares worth about $281.55 million.
• Salesforce's board authorized a $25 billion share repurchase and raised the quarterly dividend to $0.44 (1.1% yield), signaling management views the stock as undervalued.
• The company beat quarterly estimates with EPS of $3.81 (vs. $3.05) and $11.20B revenue, but analysts have cut targets; consensus remains a "Moderate Buy" with a roughly $280 price target while the stock is down about 35% YTD.

Baillie Gifford & Co. decreased its stake in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 5.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,062,815 shares of the CRM provider's stock after selling 57,548 shares during the quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. owned about 0.11% of Salesforce worth $281,550,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Salesforce by 0.8% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 89,572,253 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $21,228,624,000 after acquiring an additional 748,772 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Salesforce by 0.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 49,420,657 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $11,732,966,000 after acquiring an additional 159,739 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its position in shares of Salesforce by 9.4% during the third quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 20,051,119 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $4,753,519,000 after acquiring an additional 1,729,440 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its position in shares of Salesforce by 159.0% during the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 17,325,206 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $4,106,255,000 after acquiring an additional 10,636,161 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Salesforce by 11.8% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 7,155,512 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $1,695,856,000 after acquiring an additional 754,116 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.43% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Salesforce news, Director David Blair Kirk bought 2,570 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $194.62 per share, with a total value of $500,173.40. Following 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 position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Neelie Kroes sold 3,893 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $238.70, for a total transaction of $929,259.10. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 7,299 shares in the company, valued at $1,742,271.30. This trade represents a 34.78% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 3.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. DA Davidson dropped their target price on shares of Salesforce from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of Salesforce from $300.00 to $250.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their target price on shares of Salesforce from $290.00 to $210.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Mizuho lowered their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $280.00 to $265.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $375.00 to $250.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $280.21.

Salesforce Trading Up 0.0%

Shares of CRM opened at $164.99 on Monday. Salesforce Inc. has a twelve month low of $163.52 and a twelve month high of $296.05. The company has a market cap of $152.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.13, a P/E/G ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $189.91 and its 200-day simple moving average is $226.19.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.05 by $0.76. The business had revenue of $11.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.18 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 17.96% and a return on equity of 15.38%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.78 earnings per share. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 13.110-13.190 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 3.110-3.130 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce announced that its board has authorized a share 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 purchase up to 14.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 9th will be paid a $0.44 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 9th. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. This is a boost from Salesforce's previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. Salesforce's payout ratio is 22.54%.

Salesforce News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Strong underlying fundamentals: recent coverage highlights Salesforce's trailing‑12‑month revenue (~$41.5B), solid profitability (77.6% gross margin, ~13.9% profit margin), nearly $15B operating cash flow and $7.8 diluted EPS — all arguments that the company’s core business can justify a higher multiple over time. Salesforce Stock Is Dropping Today: What's Going On?
• Positive Sentiment: Ecosystem wins / product integrations: Redpanda’s new real‑time, bidirectional connectors to Salesforce position CRM more as a central data hub — a feature that can increase platform stickiness and justify long‑term value capture. Salesforce Connectors From Redpanda Put Focus On CRM Valuation Gap
• Neutral Sentiment: Options activity signaling volatility: recent options flow has drawn attention — heightened options interest can presage larger moves (up or down) around earnings, product news or macro catalysts but is not a directional confirmation on its own. Is the Options Market Predicting a Spike in Salesforce Stock?
• Neutral Sentiment: Valuation debate / buy/hold view: some analysts note CRM is down sharply YTD (~35%) and argue the pullback plus ongoing AI adoption and improving growth make it a hold at current prices — this frames the decline as a potential buying opportunity for longer‑term investors. Salesforce Plunges 35% YTD: Should You Buy, Sell or Hold the Stock?
• Negative Sentiment: Sector shock from new AI models: reports about Anthropic’s latest model and broader headlines have sparked a selloff across software stocks, pressuring CRM as investors rotate toward AI infrastructure and hardware beneficiaries. Anthropic's Latest AI Model Sends a Shockwave Through Software Stocks
• Negative Sentiment: Macro/strategy commentary: high‑profile commentary (e.g., Jim Cramer) indicates a renewed “buy hardware, sell software” rotation, which can keep downward pressure on valuation multiples for large software vendors like Salesforce. Cramer explains the divergence in tech stocks – and why software may continue to lag
• Negative Sentiment: Stock price technical and momentum concerns: coverage noting three‑year lows and a steep YTD decline highlight momentum weakness that can perpetuate selling until clearer positive catalysts emerge. Salesforce stock just crashed to 3-year lows; Here's why
• Negative Sentiment: Competitive/product signals: items about alternatives (e.g., Slackbot as a CRM interface) and specialized Salesforce‑based solutions could be read as both ecosystem expansion and potential competitive friction for certain use cases. Slack instead of Salesforce: Slackbot becomes CRM interface

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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