Salesforce Inc. $CRM Shares Bought by Renaissance Group LLC

Key Points

• Renaissance Group LLC increased its Salesforce stake by 3.0% in the fourth quarter, adding 3,526 shares to bring its total to 122,928 shares worth about $32.6 million.
• Institutional ownership of Salesforce remains very high, with hedge funds and other institutions holding 80.43% of the stock. Several large asset managers, including Vanguard, State Street, and Capital International Investors, also boosted their positions.
• Salesforce reported better-than-expected quarterly results, with $3.88 EPS versus $3.13 expected and revenue of $11.13 billion, while the company also maintained shareholder-friendly actions through a dividend and a $25 billion buyback program.

Renaissance Group LLC raised its position in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 3.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 122,928 shares of the CRM provider's stock after purchasing an additional 3,526 shares during the quarter. Renaissance Group LLC's holdings in Salesforce were worth $32,565,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of CRM. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Salesforce by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 89,843,166 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $23,800,353,000 after buying an additional 270,913 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in Salesforce by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 49,420,657 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $11,732,966,000 after buying an additional 159,739 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in Salesforce by 13.3% during 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 acquiring an additional 2,669,891 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Salesforce by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 21,782,556 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $5,751,073,000 after purchasing an additional 791,345 shares during the period. Finally, Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in Salesforce by 13.5% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 19,672,684 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $5,211,515,000 after purchasing an additional 2,347,478 shares during the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key Stories Impacting Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce is getting credit for expanding its AI monetization strategy by acquiring m3ter, a usage-based metering and billing platform. The deal should help integrate consumption pricing into Agentforce Revenue Management, which could support revenue growth from AI products and make Salesforce more flexible for customers shifting away from pure subscription billing. Salesforce m3ter Deal Highlights Shift Toward Usage Based AI Revenue
• Positive Sentiment: Bloomberg-reported news that Salesforce’s stake in Anthropic has grown to about $5 billion reinforces the company’s AI exposure and may boost investor confidence that management has a meaningful position in one of the leading AI startups. Salesforce’s Anthropic Stake Reportedly Reaches $5 Billion as AI Startup Eyes IPO, Bloomberg Reports
• Positive Sentiment: A Zacks note highlighted that Salesforce is trading near a 52-week low while Agentforce ARR is rising sharply and growth appears to be re-accelerating, suggesting the stock may look inexpensive relative to its long-term AI opportunity. Salesforce Trades Near 52-Week Low: Time to Hold the Stock or Exit?
• Neutral Sentiment: Salesforce’s presentation at the Mizuho Technology Conference did not include a clear new catalyst in the provided summary, but it kept management visible to investors amid heightened scrutiny on execution. Salesforce, Inc. (CRM) Presents at Mizuho Technology Conference 2026 Transcript
• Neutral Sentiment: Third-party coverage also pointed to improving earnings quality and positive market reaction to the latest results, which supports the view that the company still has fundamental strength despite the recent pullback. Shareholders Can Be Confident That Salesforce's NYSE: CRM Earnings Are High Quality
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple reports about layoffs and severance packages are likely weighing on sentiment, as they underscore cost-cutting pressure and suggest management is still adjusting the workforce around slower-than-hoped AI adoption. Salesforce lays off employees in a new round of cuts
• Negative Sentiment: Articles noting AI competition pressure and a stock slide despite the earnings beat suggest investors remain concerned that rivals are limiting Salesforce’s growth outlook, even after strong quarterly results. AI Competition Pressured Salesforce (CRM) in Q1
• Negative Sentiment: Coverage of layoffs amid AI concerns and a sharply lower stock price reflects continuing market skepticism about whether Salesforce’s AI investments will translate into faster near-term growth. Salesforce lays off 86 employees amid AI concerns, stock down 30%

Salesforce Stock Down 2.4%

Shares of NYSE CRM opened at $171.22 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $140.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.16. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $180.90 and its 200-day simple moving average is $207.60. 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 52-week low of $163.52 and a 52-week high of $276.80.

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

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 11th will be given a dividend of $0.44 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 11th. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. Salesforce's payout ratio is presently 20.37%.

Salesforce announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program 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 programs are usually an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on CRM. Northland Securities reduced their price objective on Salesforce from $267.00 to $229.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 10th. Bank of America started coverage on Salesforce in a report on Monday, May 18th. They set an "underperform" rating and a $160.00 target price on the stock. Mizuho reduced their price target on Salesforce from $280.00 to $265.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a "neutral" rating on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, June 4th. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered Salesforce from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have issued a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $259.26.

Insider Transactions at Salesforce

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

About Salesforce

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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