Parnassus Investments LLC Sells 1,106,930 Shares of Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Parnassus Investments LLC lowered its position in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 30.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,571,143 shares of the CRM provider's stock after selling 1,106,930 shares during the period. Salesforce comprises 1.8% of Parnassus Investments LLC's holdings, making the stock its 24th largest position. Parnassus Investments LLC owned 0.27% of Salesforce worth $681,121,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd boosted its stake in Salesforce by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 746,453 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $197,743,000 after purchasing an additional 27,229 shares during the period. Keel Point LLC boosted its stake in Salesforce by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Keel Point LLC now owns 6,560 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $1,738,000 after purchasing an additional 208 shares during the period. IFM Investors Pty Ltd boosted its stake in Salesforce by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 190,285 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $50,408,000 after purchasing an additional 601 shares during the period. Coastwise Capital Group LLC boosted its stake in Salesforce by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Coastwise Capital Group LLC now owns 5,533 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $1,466,000 after purchasing an additional 107 shares during the period. Finally, SmartHarvest Portfolios LLC acquired a new position in Salesforce in the 4th quarter worth $858,000. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Headlines Impacting Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce’s Agentforce annual recurring revenue has surged to $1.2 billion, up 205% year over year, suggesting its AI push is gaining real traction and could support longer-term growth. Salesforce's AI Business Is Growing More Than 200%, but the Stock Is Near a 52-Week Low. Something Has to Give.
• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce’s acquisition of m3ter should help expand usage-based AI revenue by improving metering and billing for Agentforce and other AI products, which may open new monetization opportunities. Salesforce m3ter Deal Highlights Shift Toward Usage Based AI Revenue
• Positive Sentiment: Reports that Salesforce’s stake in Anthropic has risen to about $5 billion highlight its strategic exposure to a leading AI startup and reinforce the company’s commitment to AI investment. Salesforce’s Anthropic Stake Reportedly Reaches $5 Billion as AI Startup Eyes IPO, Bloomberg Reports
• Neutral Sentiment: TitanX expanded its Salesforce integration with automated phone intent scoring and contact enrichment, which is incremental ecosystem news but not likely to move CRM shares by itself. TitanX Expands Salesforce and HubSpot Integrations with Automated Phone Intent™ Scoring and Contact Enrichment
• Negative Sentiment: Several recent articles note that Salesforce stock is still sliding, near a 52-week low, and that investors remain skeptical despite AI growth, reflecting ongoing valuation and execution concerns. Our Salesforce Stock Pick Has Flopped. We're Moving On.
• Negative Sentiment: Broader cloud-stock weakness, highlighted by Oracle’s sharp decline after earnings, is adding sector pressure that can weigh on Salesforce even when company-specific news is positive. Oracle Plunges 10% After Earnings, Salesforce Slips Near 52-Week Lows as Cloud Stocks Slide

Insider Activity

In other news, Director David Blair Kirk bought 2,570 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was acquired 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,664,153.18. This trade represents a 23.11% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Laura Alber bought 2,571 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 19th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $194.58 per share, with a total value of $500,265.18. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 9,530 shares in the company, valued at $1,854,347.40. The trade was a 36.94% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Company insiders own 3.50% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on CRM shares. Mizuho reduced their target price on shares of Salesforce from $280.00 to $265.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $250.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on shares of Salesforce from $300.00 to $250.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. HSBC upped their target price on shares of Salesforce from $350.00 to $356.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Finally, TD Cowen reduced their target price on shares of Salesforce from $250.00 to $240.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have given a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $259.26.

Salesforce Trading Down 2.4%

Salesforce stock opened at $166.81 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $180.50 and a 200-day moving average of $207.18. Salesforce Inc. has a one year low of $163.31 and a one year high of $276.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The company has a market cap of $136.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.31, a P/E/G ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.16.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 27th. The CRM provider reported $3.88 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.13 by $0.75. Salesforce had a net margin of 18.73% and a return on equity of 18.72%. The company had revenue of $11.13 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.05 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.58 EPS. The company's quarterly 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. On average, equities analysts expect that Salesforce Inc. will post 10.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 11th will be paid 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 currently 20.37%.

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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