Hikari Tsushin Inc. Invests $963,000 in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Key Points

• Hikari Tsushin Inc. took a new position in Salesforce during the fourth quarter, buying 3,634 shares worth about $963,000.
• Salesforce continues to attract institutional interest, with hedge funds and other investors holding 80.43% of the stock. Several firms also recently increased their stakes, while insider buying remained active.
• The company’s recent results and AI-related updates were mixed but generally encouraging: quarterly earnings and revenue beat estimates, Agentforce ARR surged to $1.2 billion, and Salesforce approved a $25 billion share buyback plus a quarterly dividend.

Hikari Tsushin Inc. acquired a new position in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 3,634 shares of the CRM provider's stock, valued at approximately $963,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 13.7% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 25,668 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $8,582,000 after purchasing an additional 3,102 shares during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 12.6% during the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,827 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $611,000 after acquiring an additional 205 shares during the last quarter. Bison Wealth LLC increased its position in Salesforce by 9.0% during the 4th quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 2,234 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $747,000 after purchasing an additional 184 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in Salesforce by 3.7% in the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,958 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $807,000 after purchasing an additional 106 shares during the last quarter. Finally, United Bank raised its stake in Salesforce by 5.2% in the 2nd quarter. United Bank now owns 10,198 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $2,781,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Salesforce News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce’s Agentforce annual recurring revenue has surged to $1.2 billion, up 205% year over year, suggesting its AI push is gaining real traction and could support longer-term growth. Salesforce's AI Business Is Growing More Than 200%, but the Stock Is Near a 52-Week Low. Something Has to Give.
• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce’s acquisition of m3ter should help expand usage-based AI revenue by improving metering and billing for Agentforce and other AI products, which may open new monetization opportunities. Salesforce m3ter Deal Highlights Shift Toward Usage Based AI Revenue
• Positive Sentiment: Reports that Salesforce’s stake in Anthropic has risen to about $5 billion highlight its strategic exposure to a leading AI startup and reinforce the company’s commitment to AI investment. Salesforce’s Anthropic Stake Reportedly Reaches $5 Billion as AI Startup Eyes IPO, Bloomberg Reports
• Neutral Sentiment: TitanX expanded its Salesforce integration with automated phone intent scoring and contact enrichment, which is incremental ecosystem news but not likely to move CRM shares by itself. TitanX Expands Salesforce and HubSpot Integrations with Automated Phone Intent™ Scoring and Contact Enrichment
• Negative Sentiment: Several recent articles note that Salesforce stock is still sliding, near a 52-week low, and that investors remain skeptical despite AI growth, reflecting ongoing valuation and execution concerns. Our Salesforce Stock Pick Has Flopped. We're Moving On.
• Negative Sentiment: Broader cloud-stock weakness, highlighted by Oracle’s sharp decline after earnings, is adding sector pressure that can weigh on Salesforce even when company-specific news is positive. Oracle Plunges 10% After Earnings, Salesforce Slips Near 52-Week Lows as Cloud Stocks Slide

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director David Blair Kirk bought 2,570 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $194.62 per share, for a total transaction of $500,173.40. Following the acquisition, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Laura Alber bought 2,571 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 19th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $194.58 per share, with a total value of $500,265.18. Following the transaction, 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 SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. 3.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Salesforce Price Performance

CRM opened at $166.81 on Friday. Salesforce Inc. has a 1 year low of $163.31 and a 1 year high of $276.80. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $180.50 and its 200 day simple moving average is $207.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $136.61 billion, a PE ratio of 19.31, a P/E/G ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 27th. The CRM provider reported $3.88 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.13 by $0.75. The company had revenue of $11.13 billion for 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 18.72%. Salesforce's revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm 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. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Salesforce Inc. will post 10.3 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Monday, March 16th that allows the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the CRM provider to reacquire up to 14.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

CRM has been the topic of several analyst reports. Citizens Jmp reaffirmed a "market outperform" rating and set a $315.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. Wedbush reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $325.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Salesforce from $252.00 to $236.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. Truist Financial set a $280.00 price target on Salesforce in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, HSBC increased their price target on Salesforce from $350.00 to $356.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have issued a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $259.26.

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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding CRM? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report).

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.