Salesforce Inc. $CRM Shares Purchased by CIBC Asset Management Inc

Key Points

• CIBC Asset Management boosted its Salesforce stake by 60.4% in the fourth quarter, buying an additional 91,751 shares and bringing its total holdings to 243,567 shares valued at about $64.5 million.
• Salesforce reported better-than-expected quarterly results, with EPS of $3.88 versus estimates of $3.13 and revenue of $11.13 billion, up 13.3% year over year.
• The company is supporting shareholder returns with a $25 billion share repurchase program and a quarterly dividend of $0.44 per share, while analysts remain broadly constructive with an average rating of Moderate Buy.

CIBC Asset Management Inc increased its holdings in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 60.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 243,567 shares of the CRM provider's stock after acquiring an additional 91,751 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc's holdings in Salesforce were worth $64,523,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Byrne Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Salesforce by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC now owns 4,331 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $1,147,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares during the period. Mathes Company Inc. grew its holdings in Salesforce by 0.4% during the third quarter. Mathes Company Inc. now owns 12,558 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $2,976,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the period. Fred Alger Management LLC grew its holdings in Salesforce by 0.3% during the third quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 14,943 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $3,548,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the period. Beacon Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Salesforce by 3.5% during the third quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,372 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $325,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares during the period. Finally, Fulcrum Asset Management LLP grew its position in Salesforce by 1.7% during the third quarter. Fulcrum Asset Management LLP now owns 2,774 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $657,000 after buying an additional 46 shares during the period. 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 beat expectations in its latest quarter, with strong revenue growth and better-than-expected earnings, reinforcing that core demand remains solid. The company is also being viewed as an AI beneficiary as it expands capabilities through its Anthropic investment and Contentful acquisition. Salesforce just beat estimates, one analyst still sees more pain
• Positive Sentiment: Technical traders are pointing to a bullish reversal, saying CRM has broken out from a consolidation pattern on strong volume and reclaimed key moving averages, which could support further upside if momentum holds. Salesforce (CRM) Price Forecast: Bullish Reversal Gains Strength
• Positive Sentiment: Investor sentiment has also been helped by broader optimism around software stocks and Salesforce’s AI push, with commentary highlighting the company’s strategic positioning in enterprise AI. Salesforce AI Push With Anthropic And Contentful Meets Undervalued Share Price

Salesforce Stock Down 4.2%

CRM opened at $200.82 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. The firm has a market cap of $164.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.24, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.16. Salesforce Inc. has a 52 week low of $163.52 and a 52 week high of $276.80. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $181.06 and its 200 day simple moving average is $210.11.

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, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.13 by $0.75. The business had revenue of $11.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.05 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 18.72% and a net margin of 18.73%.The business's revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $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 anticipate that Salesforce Inc. will post 9.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Monday, March 16th that allows the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the CRM provider to purchase up to 14.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Investors of record on Thursday, June 11th will be given a dividend of $0.44 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 11th. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. Salesforce's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.37%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Laura Alber bought 2,571 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 19th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $194.58 per share, for a total transaction of $500,265.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 9,530 shares in the company, valued at $1,854,347.40. The trade was a 36.94% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, 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 purchased at an average price of $194.62 per share, for a total transaction of $500,173.40. Following the transaction, the director owned 13,689 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,664,153.18. The trade was a 23.11% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. 3.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have weighed in on CRM. UBS Group restated a "market outperform" rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a "buy" rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Salesforce from $252.00 to $236.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. Bank of America began coverage on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Monday, May 18th. They set an "underperform" rating and a $160.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered Salesforce from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, May 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have issued a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $257.97.

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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