Guinness Asset Management LTD Has $54.25 Million Position in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Key Points

• Guinness Asset Management LTD increased its Salesforce stake by 34.5% in the fourth quarter, buying 52,277 more shares and bringing its total to 203,769 shares worth about $54.25 million.
• Salesforce reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings, posting $3.81 EPS versus the $3.05 consensus and revenue of $11.20 billion, up 12.1% year over year.
• The company also boosted shareholder returns with a higher quarterly dividend and a $25 billion stock buyback plan, while analysts remain mixed but still view the stock with a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating.

Guinness Asset Management LTD grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 34.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 203,769 shares of the CRM provider's stock after acquiring an additional 52,277 shares during the period. Salesforce accounts for approximately 0.9% of Guinness Asset Management LTD's investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest holding. Guinness Asset Management LTD's holdings in Salesforce were worth $54,249,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted 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 worth $23,800,353,000 after purchasing an additional 270,913 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted 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 worth $11,732,966,000 after purchasing an additional 159,739 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its position in shares of Salesforce by 9.4% during 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 in the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its position in shares of Salesforce by 159.0% during 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Salesforce by 11.8% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 7,155,512 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $1,695,856,000 after purchasing an additional 754,116 shares in the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Salesforce Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CRM opened at $180.32 on Friday. Salesforce Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $163.52 and a fifty-two week high of $280.74. The stock has a market cap of $147.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.09, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.76. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $182.26 and its 200 day simple moving average is $212.98.

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

Salesforce Increases Dividend

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

Salesforce announced that its board has approved a stock 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 generally an indication that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on CRM. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Salesforce from a "hold (c-)" rating to a "sell (d+)" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Salesforce from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, April 18th. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their price target on shares of Salesforce from $223.00 to $194.00 and set an "underperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Salesforce from $365.00 to $320.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $400.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have assigned a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Salesforce currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $274.12.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Laura Alber acquired 2,571 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 19th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $194.58 per share, for a total transaction of $500,265.18. Following the purchase, the director owned 9,530 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,854,347.40. This represents a 36.94% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director David Blair Kirk acquired 2,570 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was purchased at an average price 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 SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Company insiders own 3.50% of the company's stock.

Key Stories Impacting Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce announced an expanded collaboration with Cint to deliver next-generation AI-powered support through Slack, reinforcing the company’s push into agentic enterprise workflows and AI-driven automation. Cint and Salesforce to Deliver the Next Generation of AI-Powered Support
• Positive Sentiment: Several analyst- and media-driven pieces highlighted Salesforce as an attractive AI and software value play, with commentary pointing to strong upside potential and expectations that Q1 results may benefit from continued digital transformation and generative AI adoption. Salesforce Likely to Beat Q1 Earnings Estimates: Time to Buy the Stock?
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street price-target articles continue to suggest meaningful upside for CRM, with analysts’ average target implying a large gain from current levels and some firms still keeping bullish ratings. Does Salesforce (CRM) Have the Potential to Rally 53.21% as Wall Street Analysts Expect?
• Neutral Sentiment: Salesforce granted 64,296 RSUs to 27 employees tied to the Cimulate acquisition; this is routine retention-related equity compensation and is not likely to materially move the stock on its own. Salesforce Grants Equity Awards to Cimulate Under Its Inducement Equity Incentive Plan
• Neutral Sentiment: Investors are also focused on Salesforce’s upcoming earnings release and expected post-earnings volatility, which adds uncertainty but no clear directional catalyst yet. Here's How Much Traders Expect Salesforce Stock Could Move After Earnings
• Negative Sentiment: UBS flagged a mixed enterprise software spending backdrop and said it sees limited signs of near-term acceleration in bookings, which may be weighing on sentiment into earnings. Salesforce faces tough enterprise software backdrop heading into earnings, says UBS
• Negative Sentiment: Bank of America reiterated an Underperform rating with a $160 target, signaling that some analysts remain cautious on the stock despite Salesforce’s strong market position. BofA Maintains Underperform Rating on Salesforce (CRM)

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.