Capstone Capital Management Ltd Invests $744,000 in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Key Points

• Capstone Capital Management disclosed a new fourth-quarter stake in Salesforce, buying 2,808 shares valued at about $744,000.
• Salesforce reported stronger-than-expected quarterly results, with EPS of $3.81 versus $3.05 expected and revenue of $11.20 billion, up 12.1% year over year.
• The company also announced a $25 billion share buyback and raised its quarterly dividend to $0.44 per share, even as recent analyst commentary has been mixed to bearish on the stock.

Capstone Capital Management Ltd bought a new stake in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund bought 2,808 shares of the CRM provider's stock, valued at approximately $744,000.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in CRM. Rockland Trust Co. increased its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 1,145.6% in the 3rd quarter. Rockland Trust Co. now owns 13,066 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $3,097,000 after acquiring an additional 12,017 shares during the period. Alps Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 98.3% in the 3rd quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 21,455 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $5,085,000 after purchasing an additional 10,633 shares in the last quarter. Midwest Trust Co boosted 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 worth $44,336,000 after purchasing an additional 4,233 shares in the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised 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 worth $113,420,000 after acquiring an additional 61,270 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AGF Management Ltd. increased 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 worth $66,610,000 after buying an additional 83,403 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company's stock.

Salesforce Stock Performance

NYSE:CRM opened at $179.39 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $183.73 and a 200-day moving average of $214.85. The firm has a market cap of $146.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. Salesforce Inc. has a twelve month low of $163.52 and a twelve month high of $289.90.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.05 by $0.76. Salesforce had a return on equity of 15.38% and a net margin of 17.96%.The business had revenue of $11.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $11.18 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.78 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 13.110-13.190 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 3.110-3.130 EPS. Analysts forecast that Salesforce Inc. will post 9.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce announced that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Monday, March 16th that allows the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the CRM provider to purchase up to 14.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 9th were issued a dividend of $0.44 per share. This is an increase from Salesforce's previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 9th. Salesforce's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.54%.

Insider Activity at Salesforce

In other news, Director David Blair Kirk acquired 2,570 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $194.62 per share, for a total transaction of $500,173.40. Following the transaction, the director owned 13,689 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,664,153.18. This trade represents a 23.11% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Laura Alber purchased 2,571 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 19th. The shares were acquired 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 directly owned 9,530 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,854,347.40. This trade represents a 36.94% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. 3.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Salesforce News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Negative Sentiment: Bank of America initiated coverage on Salesforce with an Underperform rating and a $160 price target, implying downside from current levels. The call raised concerns that the company’s AI narrative may be losing momentum and appears to be the most stock-moving headline for CRM today. Benzinga report on Bank of America coverage
• Negative Sentiment: Another market note highlighted Salesforce among software laggards that have been hit by broad sector selling, reinforcing the idea that investors remain cautious on the stock despite AI-related growth potential. Zacks commentary
• Neutral Sentiment: A separate analysis argued that Salesforce may still be attractive versus Oracle because of its steadier growth profile and cheaper valuation, offering a counterpoint to the bearish broker view. Zacks comparison article
• Neutral Sentiment: Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff also continued promoting the company’s AI efforts, saying Slack AI can surface employee concerns and decisions, which supports the long-term AI story but is not an immediate catalyst. Business Insider article
• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce also received a bullish longer-term mention as one of several AI-powered software laggards that could offer short-term upside, suggesting some investors still see value after the selloff. Zacks AI-powered laggards article

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CRM has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. DA Davidson reduced their target price on Salesforce from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 27th. KeyCorp cut their price objective on Salesforce from $400.00 to $300.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on shares of Salesforce from $250.00 to $215.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 14th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their price objective on Salesforce from $223.00 to $194.00 and set an "underperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $281.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have given a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $274.56.

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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