MML Investors Services LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Key Points

• MML Investors Services LLC boosted its Salesforce stake by 26.2% in the fourth quarter, adding 57,518 shares to bring its total holdings to 276,694 shares worth about $73.3 million.
• Institutional ownership remains heavy, with 80.43% of Salesforce shares held by hedge funds and other institutional investors, and several smaller funds recently initiating positions.
• Analysts remain mostly constructive on CRM despite some target cuts, with a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $259.26; the company also recently reported earnings and revenue that topped estimates.

MML Investors Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 26.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 276,694 shares of the CRM provider's stock after buying an additional 57,518 shares during the quarter. MML Investors Services LLC's holdings in Salesforce were worth $73,299,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC purchased a new position in Salesforce during the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Board of the Pension Protection Fund purchased a new position in Salesforce during the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Key Capital Management INC purchased a new position in Salesforce during the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Gilpin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Salesforce during the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Finally, Legacy Bridge LLC purchased a new position in Salesforce during the 4th quarter worth $27,000. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently weighed in on CRM shares. Northland Securities dropped their target price on Salesforce from $267.00 to $229.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 10th. Mizuho dropped their target price on Salesforce from $280.00 to $265.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Salesforce from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, June 6th. TD Cowen restated a "buy" rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Friday. Finally, B. Riley Financial boosted their target price on Salesforce from $205.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have given a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $259.26.

More Salesforce News

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce’s latest quarter was strong, with revenue of $11.13 billion, EPS of $3.88, and AI/data ARR rising to $3.4 billion; Agentforce alone reached $1.2 billion in ARR, reinforcing the company’s AI growth story and supporting the bullish case. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Erste Group Bank raised its earnings expectations for Salesforce, estimating FY2027 EPS at $10.17 and FY2028 EPS at $11.07, which suggests confidence in longer-term profitability. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce is getting renewed attention from market watchers, and several articles highlight that its AI pivot and low valuation could attract investors if execution continues to improve. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Salesforce is also being discussed in the context of broader software-sector weakness, with investors favoring AI infrastructure and chip names over traditional subscription software. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Salesforce announced another round of layoffs tied to its AI and Marketing Cloud teams, signaling restructuring pressure as it shifts toward AI-focused and usage-based monetization models. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Several reports note that CRM shares are near 52-week lows as investors worry the market is rotating away from legacy software names, keeping pressure on the stock despite solid fundamentals. Article Title

Salesforce Stock Up 0.1%

Salesforce stock opened at $166.07 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $180.10 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $206.75. The company has a market cap of $136.01 billion, a PE ratio of 19.22, a PEG ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.16. Salesforce Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $161.40 and a fifty-two week high of $276.80.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $3.13 by $0.75. The business had revenue of $11.13 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.05 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 18.72% and a net margin of 18.73%.The company's quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.58 EPS. 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 analysts anticipate that Salesforce Inc. will post 10.29 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed 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. 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 payout ratio is 20.37%.

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

Insider Activity

In related news, Director David Blair Kirk acquired 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, with a total value of $500,173.40. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 13,689 shares in the company, valued at $2,664,153.18. This represents a 23.11% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Laura Alber acquired 2,571 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 19th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $194.58 per share, with a total value of $500,265.18. Following the acquisition, the director owned 9,530 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,854,347.40. This trade represents a 36.94% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders own 3.50% of the company's stock.

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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