Salesforce Inc. $CRM Shares Acquired by Dash Acquisitions Inc.

Key Points

• Dash Acquisitions increased its Salesforce stake by 44% in the fourth quarter, ending with 89,034 shares valued at about $23.6 million. Salesforce now makes up 4.6% of the fund’s portfolio.
• Salesforce posted stronger-than-expected quarterly results, with EPS of $3.81 versus $3.05 expected and revenue of $11.2 billion, up 12.1% year over year. The company also raised its full-year and Q1 guidance.
• The company is continuing shareholder returns and capital allocation moves, including a higher quarterly dividend of $0.44 per share and a newly authorized $25 billion stock buyback. Analysts remain broadly constructive, with Salesforce carrying a “Moderate Buy” rating despite some price-target cuts.

Dash Acquisitions Inc. boosted its position in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 44.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 89,034 shares of the CRM provider's stock after purchasing an additional 27,187 shares during the period. Salesforce accounts for about 4.6% of Dash Acquisitions Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest holding. Dash Acquisitions Inc.'s holdings in Salesforce were worth $23,586,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of CRM. Capital World Investors increased its holdings in Salesforce by 159.0% in the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 17,325,206 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $4,106,255,000 after purchasing an additional 10,636,161 shares in the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Salesforce in the 3rd quarter worth about $484,852,000. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 285.4% in the 3rd 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 last quarter. Generation Investment Management LLP bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the 3rd quarter valued at about $431,157,000. Finally, Capital International Investors grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 9.4% in the 3rd 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 last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company's stock.

Salesforce News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce landed a $72 million U.S. Air Force agreement tied to a broader Department of Defense contract, expanding its Agentforce AI platform into secure government workflows and reinforcing the company’s AI growth narrative. Salesforce’s Air Force Deal Tests Agentforce’s Role In Secure Government AI
• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce continues to attract bullish attention as investors focus on its agentic AI strategy and broader growth story across large-cap software. The Zacks Analyst Blog Meta, Pfizer, Salesforce and Smith-Midland
• Neutral Sentiment: BoldSign launched a Salesforce integration on AgentExchange to streamline agreement workflows, highlighting continued partner ecosystem momentum around the CRM platform. BoldSign Launches Salesforce Integration to Streamline Agreement Workflows
• Neutral Sentiment: Salesforce received a new $188 price target from Citi, down from $200, reflecting softer enterprise software spending trends and a more cautious near-term outlook. Salesforce NYSE: CRM Given New $188.00 Price Target at Citigroup
• Neutral Sentiment: Salesforce also remained broadly favored by brokerage firms with an overall “Moderate Buy” rating, suggesting Wall Street still sees upside despite the valuation reset. Salesforce Inc. NYSE: CRM Given Average Rating of "Moderate Buy" by Brokerages

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Salesforce from $235.00 to $210.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Truist Financial set a $280.00 price target on Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price target on Salesforce from $290.00 to $210.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on Salesforce from $375.00 to $250.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Finally, Northland Securities reduced their price target on Salesforce from $267.00 to $229.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have given a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Salesforce presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $278.82.

Salesforce Trading Up 1.2%

NYSE CRM opened at $167.76 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $184.56 and a 200 day simple moving average of $215.95. Salesforce Inc. has a one year low of $163.52 and a one year high of $292.17. The stock has a market capitalization of $137.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.48, a P/E/G ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.76.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 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 business had revenue of $11.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $11.18 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.78 earnings per share. The firm'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. Research analysts expect that Salesforce Inc. will post 9.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 9th were paid a dividend of $0.44 per share. This is an increase from Salesforce's previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 9th. Salesforce's payout ratio is 22.54%.

Salesforce declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Monday, March 16th that permits the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the CRM provider to buy up to 14.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Salesforce

In other Salesforce news, Director Laura Alber bought 2,571 shares of the firm's 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 purchase, the director directly owned 9,530 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,854,347.40. This trade represents a 36.94% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director David Blair Kirk bought 2,570 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $194.62 per share, with a total value of $500,173.40. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 13,689 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,664,153.18. This trade represents a 23.11% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Company insiders own 3.00% of the company's stock.

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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