Salesforce Inc. $CRM Shares Bought by Adams Diversified Equity Fund Inc.

Key Points

• Adams Diversified Equity Fund increased its Salesforce stake by 19.5% in the fourth quarter, buying 10,700 more shares and bringing its total holding to 65,700 shares worth about $17.4 million.
• Salesforce recently posted strong quarterly results, with EPS of $3.88 and revenue of $11.13 billion, both ahead of expectations; management also highlighted continued growth in AI-related ARR, including Agentforce.
• Despite solid fundamentals, the stock remains under pressure near its 52-week low, while analysts are mixed overall with a Moderate Buy consensus and an average target price of $259.26.

Adams Diversified Equity Fund Inc. grew its stake in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 19.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 65,700 shares of the CRM provider's stock after acquiring an additional 10,700 shares during the quarter. Adams Diversified Equity Fund Inc.'s holdings in Salesforce were worth $17,405,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Byrne Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Salesforce by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC now owns 4,331 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $1,147,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Mathes Company Inc. increased its position in Salesforce by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Mathes Company Inc. now owns 12,558 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $2,976,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC increased its position in Salesforce by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 14,943 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $3,548,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC increased its position in Salesforce by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,372 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $325,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fulcrum Asset Management LLP increased its position in Salesforce by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Fulcrum Asset Management LLP now owns 2,774 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $657,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on CRM. Northland Securities dropped their target price on shares of Salesforce from $267.00 to $229.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 10th. Wedbush restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $325.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, May 28th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Salesforce from a "sell (d+)" rating to a "hold (c-)" rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Salesforce from $365.00 to $320.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, Macquarie Infrastructure decreased their price target on Salesforce from $200.00 to $190.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 28th. One equities 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 company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Salesforce has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $259.26.

Salesforce News Summary

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

Salesforce Stock Performance

CRM stock opened at $166.07 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. The firm 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. Salesforce Inc. has a 12-month low of $161.40 and a 12-month high of $276.80. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $180.10 and its 200 day simple moving average is $206.89.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 27th. The CRM provider reported $3.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.13 by $0.75. The company had revenue of $11.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $11.05 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 18.72% and a net margin of 18.73%.The firm's quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.58 earnings per share. 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, equities research analysts predict that Salesforce Inc. will post 10.29 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

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

Salesforce declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Monday, March 16th that allows the company to buyback $25.00 billion in outstanding 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 typically an indication that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director David Blair Kirk bought 2,570 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $194.62 per share, for a total transaction of $500,173.40. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 13,689 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,664,153.18. This represents a 23.11% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Laura Alber purchased 2,571 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 19th. The stock was bought at an average price of $194.58 per share, with a total value of $500,265.18. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 9,530 shares in the company, valued at $1,854,347.40. This trade represents a 36.94% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Company insiders own 3.50% 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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