HighTower Advisors LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Key Points

• HighTower Advisors LLC reduced its Salesforce stake by 3.5% in the fourth quarter, selling 16,297 shares and leaving it with 453,038 shares valued at about $120 million.
• Institutional ownership remains heavy, with hedge funds and other institutional investors holding 80.43% of Salesforce shares; several firms, including Capital World Investors and Capital International Investors, significantly increased their positions.
• Wall Street is still mixed on CRM: analysts have a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating with an average target price of $274.56, but some recent cuts were steep, and Bank of America restarted coverage with an Underperform rating and a $160 target amid AI-related concerns.

HighTower Advisors LLC trimmed its position in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 3.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 453,038 shares of the CRM provider's stock after selling 16,297 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC's holdings in Salesforce were worth $120,014,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CRM. Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in 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 buying an additional 10,636,161 shares in the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the third quarter valued at about $484,852,000. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 285.4% during the third quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 2,487,627 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $589,568,000 after acquiring an additional 1,842,117 shares during the last quarter. Generation Investment Management LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the third quarter worth about $431,157,000. Finally, Capital International Investors lifted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 9.4% in the third quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 20,051,119 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $4,753,519,000 after acquiring an additional 1,729,440 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on CRM shares. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Salesforce from $398.00 to $287.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 23rd. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on Salesforce from $235.00 to $225.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $400.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on shares of Salesforce from $375.00 to $250.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on shares of Salesforce from $265.00 to $252.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Salesforce presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $274.56.

Trending Headlines about Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Enterprise software stocks are rallying broadly as investors rotate back into the group after recent pressure tied to fears that AI agents could disrupt traditional SaaS models. Salesforce is benefiting from that sector-wide rebound. From ServiceNow to Salesforce: why are software stocks rallying today?
• Positive Sentiment: Some commentary still views Salesforce as an attractive blue-chip software holding, citing AI-related growth prospects and a relatively reasonable valuation versus peers like Oracle. Buy 5 Blue-Chip Stocks to Enhance Your Portfolio Returns in 2026
• Neutral Sentiment: Salesforce’s AI push remains a key debate on Wall Street. Bank of America restarted coverage with an Underperform rating and a $160 price target, warning that AI may pressure Salesforce’s legacy CRM model and make monetization harder. BofA resets Salesforce stock price target with sobering AI verdict
• Neutral Sentiment: Other coverage is also focused on whether Salesforce can prove its AI strategy is working, with investors watching for evidence that Agentforce and related products can offset concerns about slower long-term growth. Software's "Baby with the Bathwater" Moment
• Negative Sentiment: Market commentary also highlights Salesforce’s recent weakness and the argument that AI disruption could keep investors cautious until growth re-accelerates. Is It Time To Reconsider Salesforce (CRM) After This Year’s 32% Share Price Slide?

Salesforce Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CRM opened at $179.46 on Wednesday. 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 company has a market capitalization of $146.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.14. Salesforce Inc. has a twelve month low of $163.52 and a twelve month high of $288.44. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $183.27 and a 200-day simple moving average of $214.34.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.05 by $0.76. The firm had revenue of $11.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $11.18 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 15.38% and a net margin of 17.96%.The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.78 earnings per share. 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, equities research analysts expect that Salesforce Inc. will post 9.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

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

Salesforce declared that its board has initiated a share 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 often a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Salesforce

In related news, Director Laura Alber bought 2,571 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 19th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $194.58 per share, for a total transaction 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. The trade was a 36.94% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director David Blair Kirk bought 2,570 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $194.62 per share, with a total value of $500,173.40. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly 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 position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. 3.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Salesforce Company 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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