Garde Capital Inc. Has $4.69 Million Position in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Key Points

• Garde Capital Inc. increased its Salesforce stake by 123.5% in the fourth quarter, ending with 17,691 shares valued at about $4.69 million.
• Salesforce reported better-than-expected Q1 results, with EPS of $3.88 and revenue of $11.13 billion, and raised its full-year profit guidance. The company also said Agentforce ARR surpassed $1 billion, highlighting momentum in its AI push.
• Management backed shareholder returns with a $25 billion accelerated buyback and a quarterly dividend of $0.44 per share, while analysts remained mostly constructive with a consensus rating of Moderate Buy.

Garde Capital Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 123.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 17,691 shares of the CRM provider's stock after acquiring an additional 9,775 shares during the period. Garde Capital Inc.'s holdings in Salesforce were worth $4,687,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Salesforce by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 89,843,166 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $23,800,353,000 after acquiring an additional 270,913 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Salesforce by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 49,420,657 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $11,732,966,000 after acquiring an additional 159,739 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Salesforce by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 21,782,556 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $5,751,073,000 after buying an additional 791,345 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its holdings in Salesforce by 9.4% during the third quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 20,051,119 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $4,753,519,000 after buying an additional 1,729,440 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors raised its holdings in Salesforce by 159.0% during the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 17,325,206 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $4,106,255,000 after buying an additional 10,636,161 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on CRM shares. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $225.00 to $215.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group restated a "buy" rating on shares of Salesforce in a report on Tuesday. Oppenheimer lowered their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $275.00 to $250.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Salesforce from a "hold (c-)" rating to a "sell (d+)" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. Finally, Wedbush restated an "outperform" rating and set a $325.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have assigned a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $259.47.

Key Stories Impacting Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce beat Q1 earnings and revenue estimates, raised full-year profit guidance, and said Agentforce ARR passed $1 billion, reinforcing momentum in its AI strategy.
• Positive Sentiment: The company announced a $25 billion accelerated buyback, which should provide direct support to shareholder returns and may help limit downside.
• Positive Sentiment: Several analysts remained constructive, with firms like Wedbush, Piper Sandler, Cantor Fitzgerald, and B. Riley reiterating bullish ratings and high price targets despite trimming estimates.
• Neutral Sentiment: Citigroup and other banks lowered price targets modestly, but most still kept neutral-to-positive views, suggesting the Street is resetting expectations rather than turning outright bearish.
• Negative Sentiment: The stock is being held back by slightly light revenue guidance and continued investor concern that AI competition could pressure Salesforce’s growth profile over time.

Salesforce Stock Performance

Shares of CRM stock opened at $176.30 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $180.84 and a 200-day moving average of $210.72. The company has a market cap of $144.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.41, a P/E/G ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.76. Salesforce Inc. has a one year low of $163.52 and a one year high of $276.80.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 27th. The CRM provider reported $3.88 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.13 by $0.75. The company had revenue of $11.13 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.05 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 18.73% and a return on equity of 16.70%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $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 research analysts forecast that Salesforce Inc. will post 9.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced 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 1.0%. Salesforce's dividend payout ratio is currently 22.54%.

Salesforce declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Monday, March 16th that authorizes the company to buyback $25.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the CRM provider to reacquire up to 14.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically an indication that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Laura Alber bought 2,571 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 19th. The stock was bought at an average price of $194.58 per share, for a total transaction of $500,265.18. Following the completion of the acquisition, 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 position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director David Blair Kirk purchased 2,570 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were bought at an average price of $194.62 per share, with a total value of $500,173.40. Following the transaction, the director 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. Corporate insiders own 3.50% of the company's stock.

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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