Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp Cuts Holdings in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Key Points

• Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp cut its stake in Salesforce by 32.9% in Q4, selling 262,616 shares and ending with 535,484 shares (about 0.06% of the company) valued at roughly $141.9 million.
• Salesforce beat Q results (EPS $3.81 vs. $3.05 expected; revenue $11.20B), set FY2027 EPS guidance of 13.110–13.190, and boosted shareholder returns via a raised quarterly dividend ($0.44) plus a $25 billion share buyback authorization.

Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp lowered its position in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 32.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 535,484 shares of the CRM provider's stock after selling 262,616 shares during the quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp owned 0.06% of Salesforce worth $141,855,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital World Investors grew its holdings 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 during the period. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Salesforce during the third quarter worth approximately $484,852,000. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 285.4% in 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 in the last quarter. Generation Investment Management LLP purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce in the 3rd quarter valued at $431,157,000. Finally, Capital International Investors raised its stake in shares of Salesforce by 9.4% in the 3rd quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 20,051,119 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $4,753,519,000 after acquiring an additional 1,729,440 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company's stock.

Salesforce Stock Performance

NYSE:CRM opened at $180.17 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $187.03 and a two-hundred day moving average of $221.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The stock has a market cap of $147.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.07, a PEG ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.29. Salesforce Inc. has a 1-year low of $163.52 and a 1-year high of $296.05.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.05 by $0.76. The business had revenue of $11.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.18 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 15.38% and a net margin of 17.96%.The company's revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $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. On average, research analysts expect that Salesforce Inc. will post 9.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 9th were given a $0.44 dividend. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 9th. This is a positive change from Salesforce's previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. Salesforce's dividend payout ratio is currently 22.54%.

Salesforce declared that its board has approved a share buyback program on Monday, March 16th that permits the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the CRM provider to repurchase up to 14.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on CRM. Wedbush reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $375.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Salesforce from $398.00 to $287.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their price objective on Salesforce from $223.00 to $194.00 and set an "underperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Citigroup upped their target price on Salesforce from $197.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. Finally, BTIG Research reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $255.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Friday, April 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $279.18.

Insider Activity at Salesforce

In other Salesforce news, Director David Blair Kirk bought 2,570 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $194.62 per share, for a total transaction of $500,173.40. Following the purchase, the director owned 13,689 shares in the company, valued at $2,664,153.18. This represents a 23.11% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Laura Alber purchased 2,571 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 19th. The stock was bought at an average price of $194.58 per share, with a total value of $500,265.18. Following the purchase, the director owned 9,530 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,854,347.40. The trade was a 36.94% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Corporate insiders own 3.00% of the company's stock.

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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