Morningstar Investment Management LLC Sells 14,471 Shares of Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Key Points

• Morningstar Investment Management cut its Salesforce stake by 35% in the fourth quarter, selling 14,471 shares and leaving it with 26,923 shares valued at about $7.13 million.
• Two Salesforce directors, Laura Alber and David Blair Kirk, recently bought about 2,571 and 2,570 shares respectively, signaling insider confidence even as institutional ownership remains high at 80.43%.
• Analysts are mixed but generally constructive: the stock carries a Moderate Buy consensus with a $274.12 target, while Salesforce also reported strong quarterly results and authorized a $25 billion share buyback.

Morningstar Investment Management LLC trimmed its holdings in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 35.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 26,923 shares of the CRM provider's stock after selling 14,471 shares during the quarter. Morningstar Investment Management LLC's holdings in Salesforce were worth $7,132,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Board of the Pension Protection Fund bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Key Capital Management INC bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Legacy Bridge LLC bought a new position in Salesforce in the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Texas Capital Bancshares Inc TX bought a new position in Salesforce in the third quarter worth $28,000. Finally, Dogwood Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Salesforce by 285.7% in the fourth quarter. Dogwood Wealth Management LLC now owns 108 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the period. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Salesforce

In related news, Director Laura Alber acquired 2,571 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 19th. The stock was purchased 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 of the company's stock, valued at $1,854,347.40. The trade was a 36.94% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director David Blair Kirk acquired 2,570 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were bought at an average price of $194.62 per share, with a total value of $500,173.40. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 13,689 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,664,153.18. This represents a 23.11% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 3.50% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. Oppenheimer reduced their target price on Salesforce from $275.00 to $250.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Wedbush reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $375.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. Citigroup reduced their target price on Salesforce from $200.00 to $188.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on Salesforce from $250.00 to $215.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. Finally, Bank of America assumed coverage on Salesforce in a research report on Monday, May 18th. They issued an "underperform" rating and a $160.00 target price for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have given a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $274.12.

Salesforce Stock Performance

Salesforce stock opened at $180.32 on Monday. 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 fifty day moving average price of $182.26 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $212.64. Salesforce Inc. has a 52-week low of $163.52 and a 52-week high of $280.74. The firm has a market capitalization of $147.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.14.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last released 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. Salesforce had a return on equity of 15.38% and a net margin of 17.96%.The firm had revenue of $11.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.18 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.78 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. 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, analysts anticipate that Salesforce Inc. will post 9.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Salesforce News Roundup

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)

About Salesforce

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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