Epoch Investment Partners Inc. Lowers Stock Holdings in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Key Points

• Epoch Investment Partners cut its Salesforce stake by 59.9% in the fourth quarter, selling 192,550 shares and leaving it with 128,783 shares worth about $34.1 million.
• Several other institutional investors increased their positions in Salesforce, and hedge funds now own 80.43% of the stock, showing continued institutional interest despite the selloff by one firm.
• Salesforce reported strong quarterly results, with EPS of $3.88 and revenue of $11.13 billion, and it also approved a $25 billion share buyback and a quarterly dividend.

Epoch Investment Partners Inc. reduced its position in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 59.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 128,783 shares of the CRM provider's stock after selling 192,550 shares during the period. Epoch Investment Partners Inc.'s holdings in Salesforce were worth $34,116,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in CRM. Mmbg Investment Advisors CO. boosted its position in Salesforce by 8.2% during the 3rd quarter. Mmbg Investment Advisors CO. now owns 79,627 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $18,905,000 after purchasing an additional 6,045 shares during the period. NEOS Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Salesforce by 50.0% during the 3rd quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC now owns 116,874 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $27,699,000 after purchasing an additional 38,963 shares during the period. SFE Investment Counsel boosted its position in Salesforce by 82.7% during the 4th quarter. SFE Investment Counsel now owns 17,394 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $4,608,000 after purchasing an additional 7,871 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in Salesforce by 8.9% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,299,513 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $307,984,000 after purchasing an additional 106,107 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Salesforce by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 4,328,230 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $1,025,791,000 after purchasing an additional 101,191 shares during the period. 80.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Salesforce

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on CRM shares. Canaccord Genuity Group cut their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $250.00 to $225.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 28th. Piper Sandler lowered shares of Salesforce from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, May 28th. UBS Group restated a "market outperform" rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a "buy" rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Finally, KeyCorp cut their target price on shares of Salesforce from $300.00 to $290.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have given a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $259.26.

Key Headlines Impacting Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce’s latest quarter was strong, with revenue of $11.13 billion, EPS of $3.88, and AI/data ARR rising to $3.4 billion; Agentforce alone reached $1.2 billion in ARR, reinforcing the company’s AI growth story and supporting the bullish case. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Erste Group Bank raised its earnings expectations for Salesforce, estimating FY2027 EPS at $10.17 and FY2028 EPS at $11.07, which suggests confidence in longer-term profitability. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce is getting renewed attention from market watchers, and several articles highlight that its AI pivot and low valuation could attract investors if execution continues to improve. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Salesforce is also being discussed in the context of broader software-sector weakness, with investors favoring AI infrastructure and chip names over traditional subscription software. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Salesforce announced another round of layoffs tied to its AI and Marketing Cloud teams, signaling restructuring pressure as it shifts toward AI-focused and usage-based monetization models. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Several reports note that CRM shares are near 52-week lows as investors worry the market is rotating away from legacy software names, keeping pressure on the stock despite solid fundamentals. Article Title

Salesforce Price Performance

NYSE CRM opened at $166.07 on Monday. Salesforce Inc. has a 52 week low of $161.40 and a 52 week high of $276.80. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. The stock has a market cap of $136.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $180.10 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $206.75.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 27th. The CRM provider reported $3.88 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.13 by $0.75. The firm had revenue of $11.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $11.05 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 18.73% and a return on equity of 18.72%. Salesforce's quarterly revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.58 EPS. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 14.060-14.120 EPS and its Q2 2027 guidance at 3.250-3.270 EPS. Analysts forecast that Salesforce Inc. will post 10.29 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Monday, March 16th that allows the company to buyback $25.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the CRM provider to purchase up to 14.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically an indication that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 11th will be issued a $0.44 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 11th. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.1%. Salesforce's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.37%.

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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