Cwm LLC Grows Holdings in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Key Points

• Cwm LLC raised its stake in Salesforce by 23.2% in Q4 to 138,572 shares worth $36.7M, while institutional investors now own 80.43% of the company and several large funds (e.g., Capital World Investors, Alyeska) materially increased positions.
• Salesforce beat quarterly expectations with EPS $3.81 vs. $3.05 and revenue of $11.20B (+12.1% YoY) and set FY27 guidance of 13.11–13.19 EPS, though multiple analysts trimmed price targets leaving a MarketBeat consensus of "Moderate Buy" and an average target of $279.18.
• The board authorized a $25.0 billion share repurchase program (about 14.1% of shares) and raised the quarterly dividend to $0.44 (annualized $1.76, ~1.0% yield).

Cwm LLC increased its position in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 23.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 138,572 shares of the CRM provider's stock after buying an additional 26,123 shares during the period. Cwm LLC's holdings in Salesforce were worth $36,709,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of CRM. Capital World Investors increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 159.0% in the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 17,325,206 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $4,106,255,000 after purchasing an additional 10,636,161 shares during the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the 3rd quarter worth about $484,852,000. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 285.4% in the 3rd quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 2,487,627 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $589,568,000 after purchasing an additional 1,842,117 shares during the last quarter. Generation Investment Management LLP bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the 3rd quarter worth about $431,157,000. Finally, Capital International Investors increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 9.4% in the 3rd quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 20,051,119 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $4,753,519,000 after purchasing an additional 1,729,440 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.43% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Salesforce from $260.00 to $200.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price target on shares of Salesforce from $290.00 to $210.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Oppenheimer decreased their price target on shares of Salesforce from $275.00 to $250.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on shares of Salesforce from $300.00 to $250.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their price target on shares of Salesforce from $223.00 to $194.00 and set an "underperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have issued a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Salesforce currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $279.18.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director David Blair Kirk purchased 2,570 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction dated 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 purchase, the director 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 acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Laura Alber purchased 2,571 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 19th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $194.58 per share, with a total value of $500,265.18. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 9,530 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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. Corporate insiders own 3.00% of the company's stock.

Salesforce Price Performance

NYSE CRM opened at $181.37 on Friday. Salesforce Inc. has a 52 week low of $163.52 and a 52 week high of $296.05. 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 stock has a market cap of $167.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $188.05 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $224.57.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.05 by $0.76. Salesforce had a net margin of 17.96% and a return on equity of 15.38%. The firm had revenue of $11.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $11.18 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.78 EPS. Salesforce'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 7.46 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 9th will be given a $0.44 dividend. This is a positive change from Salesforce's previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 9th. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. Salesforce's payout ratio is currently 22.54%.

Salesforce announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Monday, March 16th that authorizes the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the CRM provider to repurchase up to 14.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

About Salesforce

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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