Niles Investment Management LLC Makes New Investment in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Key Points

• Niles Investment Management opened a new position in Salesforce during the fourth quarter, buying 26,591 shares valued at about $7.04 million. Salesforce is now about 5.4% of the fund’s holdings and its seventh-largest position.
• Institutional ownership in Salesforce remains heavy, with several large investors adding shares and 80.43% of the stock owned by institutions. Notable buyers included Norges Bank, Capital World Investors, and Capital International Investors.
• Salesforce reported a strong latest quarter, with EPS of $3.88 and revenue of $11.13 billion, both ahead of expectations. The company also reiterated growth-oriented moves, including a $25 billion buyback, a quarterly dividend, and guidance for FY2027 EPS of $14.06 to $14.12.

Niles Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 26,591 shares of the CRM provider's stock, valued at approximately $7,044,000. Salesforce makes up about 5.4% of Niles Investment Management LLC's holdings, making the stock its 7th biggest position.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the 4th quarter valued at about $3,182,951,000. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 159.0% in the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 17,325,206 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $4,106,255,000 after purchasing an additional 10,636,161 shares during the period. Cardano Risk Management B.V. raised its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 924.7% in the 4th quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 3,883,610 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $1,028,807,000 after purchasing an additional 3,504,605 shares during the period. Capital International Investors raised its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 13.3% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 22,721,010 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $6,019,199,000 after purchasing an additional 2,669,891 shares during the period. Finally, Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the 3rd quarter valued at about $484,852,000. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Salesforce Stock Down 0.2%

Salesforce stock opened at $166.07 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $136.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.22, a P/E/G ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. Salesforce Inc. has a twelve month low of $161.40 and a twelve month high of $276.80. The company's 50-day moving average price is $180.10 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $206.89.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last released 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. Salesforce had a net margin of 18.73% and a return on equity of 18.72%. The firm had revenue of $11.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $11.05 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.58 EPS. The business's revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. 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, analysts expect that Salesforce Inc. will post 10.29 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 11th will be given a dividend of $0.44 per share. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 11th. Salesforce's dividend payout ratio is presently 20.37%.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on CRM. Macquarie Infrastructure dropped their target price on shares of Salesforce from $200.00 to $190.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 28th. Truist Financial set a $280.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Daiwa Securities Group dropped their target price on shares of Salesforce from $295.00 to $280.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Northland Securities dropped their target price on shares of Salesforce from $267.00 to $229.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 10th. Finally, HSBC upped their target price on shares of Salesforce from $350.00 to $356.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have issued a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Salesforce presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $259.26.

Key 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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Salesforce news, Director Laura Alber bought 2,571 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 19th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $194.58 per share, for a total transaction of $500,265.18. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 9,530 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,854,347.40. This trade represents a 36.94% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director David Blair Kirk bought 2,570 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $194.62 per share, for a total transaction of $500,173.40. Following the transaction, the director owned 13,689 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,664,153.18. This represents a 23.11% increase in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Corporate 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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