Salesforce Inc. $CRM Shares Sold by Cumberland Partners Ltd

Key Points

• Cumberland Partners Ltd cut its Salesforce stake by 72.5% in the fourth quarter, selling 59,612 shares and leaving it with 22,600 shares worth about $5.99 million.
• Salesforce recently reported strong quarterly results, with EPS of $3.81 versus the $3.05 estimate and revenue of $11.20 billion, up 12.1% year over year. The company also raised its quarterly dividend to $0.44 and has authorized a $25 billion share buyback.
• Despite upbeat fundamentals, sentiment remains mixed: some analysts see meaningful upside, while others have turned cautious, including underperform ratings and lowered price targets. Investors are also watching upcoming earnings and enterprise software spending trends for near-term direction.

Cumberland Partners Ltd decreased its holdings in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 72.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 22,600 shares of the CRM provider's stock after selling 59,612 shares during the quarter. Cumberland Partners Ltd's holdings in Salesforce were worth $5,987,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Aspire Growth Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 1.2% during the third quarter. Aspire Growth Partners LLC now owns 3,355 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $795,000 after acquiring an additional 39 shares during the period. Byrne Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 1.0% during the fourth 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 period. Mathes Company Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 0.4% during the third quarter. Mathes Company Inc. now owns 12,558 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $2,976,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the period. Fred Alger Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 0.3% during the third quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 14,943 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $3,548,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the period. Finally, Beacon Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 3.5% during the third quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,372 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $325,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company's stock.

Salesforce Stock Up 2.3%

Salesforce stock opened at $180.32 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $147.54 billion, a PE ratio of 23.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.76. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $182.26 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $212.98. Salesforce Inc. has a twelve month low of $163.52 and a twelve month high of $280.74.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.05 by $0.76. The firm had revenue of $11.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.18 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 17.96% and a return on equity of 15.38%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.78 EPS. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 13.110-13.190 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 3.110-3.130 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Salesforce Inc. will post 9.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 9th were given a $0.44 dividend. This is a positive change 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 presently 22.54%.

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

Key Headlines Impacting Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce announced an expanded collaboration with Cint to deliver next-generation AI-powered support through Slack, reinforcing the company’s push into agentic enterprise workflows and AI-driven automation. Cint and Salesforce to Deliver the Next Generation of AI-Powered Support
• Positive Sentiment: Several analyst- and media-driven pieces highlighted Salesforce as an attractive AI and software value play, with commentary pointing to strong upside potential and expectations that Q1 results may benefit from continued digital transformation and generative AI adoption. Salesforce Likely to Beat Q1 Earnings Estimates: Time to Buy the Stock?
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street price-target articles continue to suggest meaningful upside for CRM, with analysts’ average target implying a large gain from current levels and some firms still keeping bullish ratings. Does Salesforce (CRM) Have the Potential to Rally 53.21% as Wall Street Analysts Expect?
• Neutral Sentiment: Salesforce granted 64,296 RSUs to 27 employees tied to the Cimulate acquisition; this is routine retention-related equity compensation and is not likely to materially move the stock on its own. Salesforce Grants Equity Awards to Cimulate Under Its Inducement Equity Incentive Plan
• Neutral Sentiment: Investors are also focused on Salesforce’s upcoming earnings release and expected post-earnings volatility, which adds uncertainty but no clear directional catalyst yet. Here's How Much Traders Expect Salesforce Stock Could Move After Earnings
• Negative Sentiment: UBS flagged a mixed enterprise software spending backdrop and said it sees limited signs of near-term acceleration in bookings, which may be weighing on sentiment into earnings. Salesforce faces tough enterprise software backdrop heading into earnings, says UBS
• Negative Sentiment: Bank of America reiterated an Underperform rating with a $160 target, signaling that some analysts remain cautious on the stock despite Salesforce’s strong market position. BofA Maintains Underperform Rating on Salesforce (CRM)

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on CRM. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their price target on shares of Salesforce from $223.00 to $194.00 and set an "underperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Piper Sandler cut their price target on shares of Salesforce from $250.00 to $215.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an "overweight" rating on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Salesforce from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, April 18th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $365.00 to $320.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have assigned a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $274.12.

Insider Activity at Salesforce

In other Salesforce news, Director David Blair Kirk bought 2,570 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $194.62 per share, with a total value of $500,173.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 13,689 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,664,153.18. The trade was a 23.11% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Laura Alber bought 2,571 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 19th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $194.58 per share, with a total value of $500,265.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 9,530 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,854,347.40. This represents a 36.94% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders own 3.50% of the company's stock.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.