Baker Avenue Asset Management LP Increases Stock Position in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Key Points

• Baker Avenue Asset Management LP increased its Salesforce stake by 14.1% in the fourth quarter, ending with 74,613 shares valued at about $19.8 million.
• Salesforce reported a strong quarter, beating estimates with EPS of $3.88 and revenue of $11.13 billion, helped by continued demand for its AI-powered products.
• Management said Agentforce annualized revenue surpassed $1 billion and raised full-year profit guidance, though investors remained cautious because revenue guidance and backlog metrics were only slightly weaker than hoped.

Baker Avenue Asset Management LP grew its position in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 14.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 74,613 shares of the CRM provider's stock after purchasing an additional 9,195 shares during the period. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP's holdings in Salesforce were worth $19,766,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in CRM. Rockland Trust Co. grew its position in Salesforce by 1,145.6% during the third quarter. Rockland Trust Co. now owns 13,066 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $3,097,000 after buying an additional 12,017 shares during the period. Alps Advisors Inc. grew its position in Salesforce by 98.3% during the third quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 21,455 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $5,085,000 after buying an additional 10,633 shares during the period. Midwest Trust Co grew its position in Salesforce by 2.3% during the third quarter. Midwest Trust Co now owns 187,071 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $44,336,000 after buying an additional 4,233 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its position in Salesforce by 15.1% during the third quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 467,551 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $113,420,000 after buying an additional 61,270 shares during the period. Finally, AGF Management Ltd. grew its position in Salesforce by 42.2% during the third quarter. AGF Management Ltd. now owns 281,054 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $66,610,000 after buying an additional 83,403 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company's stock.

Key Salesforce News

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce topped Wall Street expectations for Q1, posting EPS of $3.88 and revenue of $11.13 billion, supported by continued adoption of its AI-powered tools and strong double-digit revenue growth. Reuters article
• Positive Sentiment: The company said Agentforce annualized revenue passed the $1 billion mark, reinforcing the case that its AI products are becoming a meaningful growth driver. CNBC article
• Positive Sentiment: Management also raised full-year profit guidance and said it will keep investing in strong products and share buybacks, which may help support shareholder returns. CNBC article
• Neutral Sentiment: CEO Marc Benioff pushed back on fears that AI rivals like OpenAI and Anthropic will disrupt Salesforce, arguing the company’s software remains central to enterprise customers. CNBC article
• Negative Sentiment: Investors were disappointed that revenue guidance for the year came in only slightly below expectations, while backlog metrics also appeared softer than hoped, tempering enthusiasm around the beat. CNBC article
• Negative Sentiment: Salesforce remains weighed down by investor concern that AI could reshape the enterprise software market and pressure long-term growth, keeping the stock volatile despite the quarter’s solid results. Benzinga article

Salesforce Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CRM opened at $177.86 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $145.53 billion, a PE ratio of 22.77, a P/E/G ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.14. Salesforce Inc. has a twelve month low of $163.52 and a twelve month high of $278.81. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $181.23 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $211.16.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last issued its 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.05 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 17.96% and a return on equity of 15.38%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $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. Equities analysts forecast that Salesforce Inc. will post 9.71 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce declared that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Monday, March 16th that permits the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in 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 typically a sign that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Salesforce

In other news, Director Laura Alber acquired 2,571 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 19th. The stock was bought at an average cost 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 of the company's stock, valued at $1,854,347.40. The trade was a 36.94% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director David Blair Kirk acquired 2,570 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $194.62 per share, with a total value of $500,173.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 13,689 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,664,153.18. This trade represents a 23.11% increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. 3.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CRM has been the subject of several research reports. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Salesforce from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, April 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Salesforce from $365.00 to $320.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an "overweight" rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Mizuho reduced their price target 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, Piper Sandler reduced their price target on shares of Salesforce from $250.00 to $215.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-four have assigned a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $272.73.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.