Capital Group Investment Management PTE. LTD. Boosts Stock Position in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Key Points

• Capital Group Investment Management increased its Salesforce stake by 36.8% in the fourth quarter, buying 7,361 shares to bring its total to 27,366 shares worth about $7.25 million.
• Salesforce reported strong quarterly results, with EPS of $3.88 topping estimates by $0.75 and revenue of $11.13 billion beating expectations, while revenue grew 13.3% year over year.
• The company also has shareholder-friendly capital returns in place, including a $25 billion buyback authorization and a quarterly dividend of $0.44 per share, implying a 0.9% annual yield.

Capital Group Investment Management PTE. LTD. boosted its holdings in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 36.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 27,366 shares of the CRM provider's stock after buying an additional 7,361 shares during the quarter. Salesforce makes up about 1.2% of Capital Group Investment Management PTE. LTD.'s holdings, making the stock its 20th largest position. Capital Group Investment Management PTE. LTD.'s holdings in Salesforce were worth $7,250,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Board of the Pension Protection Fund purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Key Capital Management INC purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Legacy Bridge LLC purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Texas Capital Bancshares Inc TX purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce during the third quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, Dogwood Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 285.7% during the fourth quarter. Dogwood Wealth Management LLC now owns 108 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company's stock.

Salesforce Price Performance

Shares of CRM opened at $185.85 on Friday. Salesforce Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $163.52 and a fifty-two week high of $276.80. The company has a market capitalization of $152.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.16. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $181.31 and a 200-day simple moving average of $208.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 27th. The CRM provider reported $3.88 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $11.13 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.05 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.58 earnings per share. The business'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. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Salesforce Inc. will post 10.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Investors 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 yield of 0.9%. Salesforce's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.37%.

Salesforce announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Monday, March 16th that permits the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the CRM provider to reacquire up to 14.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. BTIG Research reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $255.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. Barclays dropped their price objective on Salesforce from $252.00 to $236.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 28th. Citigroup reaffirmed a "market outperform" rating on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, May 28th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, May 28th. Finally, Roth Mkm reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $325.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, May 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have given a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Salesforce presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $257.97.

Insider Transactions at Salesforce

In other news, Director David Blair Kirk acquired 2,570 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $194.62 per share, for a total transaction of $500,173.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 13,689 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,664,153.18. This trade represents a 23.11% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Laura Alber acquired 2,571 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 19th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $194.58 per share, with a total value of $500,265.18. Following the transaction, the director owned 9,530 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,854,347.40. This trade represents a 36.94% increase in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. 3.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Key Headlines Impacting Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce announced a landmark partnership with FIFA for the 2026 World Cup and 2027 Women’s World Cup, which could showcase its AI-driven Agentforce 360 platform to a massive global audience and potentially drive future enterprise demand. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: KeyCorp kept an Overweight rating and a $290 price target on Salesforce, while modeling earnings above consensus for FY2027, signaling continued analyst confidence in the company’s profit growth. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Recent commentary highlights Salesforce’s strong momentum, helped by its AI strategy, Agentforce rollout, recurring revenue base, and expanding free cash flow, which may keep long-term investors interested. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Salesforce’s presentation at the Evercore Global TMT Conference and valuation-focused coverage suggest investors are still reassessing how much of the AI and Agentforce optimism is already priced in. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Bridgewater Associates reportedly sold Salesforce, which can pressure sentiment in the near term, although the article argues that institutional selling may create a better entry point for patient investors. Article Title

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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