OFI Invest Asset Management Reduces Stock Holdings in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Key Points

• OFI Invest reduced its Salesforce stake by 13.3% in Q4, selling 34,722 shares and leaving 226,542 shares worth about $60.01 million (≈0.8% of its portfolio and its 26th largest holding).
• Salesforce reported a quarterly earnings beat (EPS $3.81 vs. $3.05 est., revenue $11.2B), set FY‑2027 EPS guidance of 13.110–13.190, approved a $25 billion share repurchase program and raised its quarterly dividend to $0.44.
• Institutions own about 80.43% of the stock; analysts have a consensus "Moderate Buy" with a $280.21 target while the share price trades near $176 (52‑week range $174.57–$296.05).

OFI Invest Asset Management decreased its holdings in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 13.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 226,542 shares of the CRM provider's stock after selling 34,722 shares during the quarter. Salesforce comprises approximately 0.8% of OFI Invest Asset Management's portfolio, making the stock its 26th biggest position. OFI Invest Asset Management's holdings in Salesforce were worth $60,013,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CRM. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in Salesforce by 159.0% in the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 17,325,206 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $4,106,255,000 after acquiring an additional 10,636,161 shares during the period. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Salesforce during the third quarter valued at $484,852,000. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. lifted its position in Salesforce by 285.4% during the third quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 2,487,627 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $589,568,000 after buying an additional 1,842,117 shares during the period. Generation Investment Management LLP purchased a new position in Salesforce during the third quarter valued at $431,157,000. Finally, Capital International Investors lifted its position in Salesforce by 9.4% during the third quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 20,051,119 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $4,753,519,000 after buying an additional 1,729,440 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Neelie Kroes sold 3,893 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $238.70, for a total value of $929,259.10. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 7,299 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,742,271.30. This trade represents a 34.78% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Laura Alber acquired 2,571 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 19th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $194.58 per share, with a total value of $500,265.18. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 9,530 shares in the company, valued at $1,854,347.40. This represents a 36.94% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. 3.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on CRM. Citigroup raised their price objective on Salesforce from $197.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a "buy" rating and set a $281.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price objective on Salesforce from $290.00 to $210.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on Salesforce from $235.00 to $225.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price objective on Salesforce from $260.00 to $200.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have given a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Salesforce currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $280.21.

Salesforce Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CRM opened at $176.18 on Thursday. Salesforce Inc. has a 1-year low of $174.57 and a 1-year high of $296.05. 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 business has a fifty day moving average price of $191.71 and a 200-day moving average price of $227.44. The company has a market capitalization of $162.62 billion, a PE ratio of 22.56, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.29.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 the consensus estimate of $11.18 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.78 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. 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, equities analysts expect that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 9th will be issued a $0.44 dividend. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 9th. This is a positive change from Salesforce's previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. Salesforce's dividend payout ratio is 21.25%.

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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