Salesforce Inc. $CRM Shares Sold by Lyell Wealth Management LP

Key Points

• Lyell Wealth Management LP cut its Salesforce stake by 11.6% in the fourth quarter, selling 6,821 shares and leaving it with 52,094 shares valued at about $13.8 million.
• Insiders bought shares recently: Directors Laura Alber and David Blair Kirk each purchased about 2,570 shares at roughly $194.6 per share, suggesting some internal confidence in the stock.
• Salesforce’s AI and financial updates were mixed — Agentforce ARR reportedly hit $1.2 billion, but the stock remains near a 52-week low and several analysts have trimmed price targets even as the company posted better-than-expected earnings and authorized a $25 billion buyback.

Lyell Wealth Management LP reduced its stake in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 11.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 52,094 shares of the CRM provider's stock after selling 6,821 shares during the period. Lyell Wealth Management LP's holdings in Salesforce were worth $13,800,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 270,913 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Salesforce by 0.3% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 49,420,657 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $11,732,966,000 after acquiring an additional 159,739 shares during the period. Capital International Investors boosted its position in shares of Salesforce by 13.3% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 22,721,010 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $6,019,199,000 after buying an additional 2,669,891 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Salesforce by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 21,782,556 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $5,751,073,000 after buying an additional 791,345 shares during the period. Finally, Capital World Investors boosted its position in shares of Salesforce by 13.5% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 19,672,684 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $5,211,515,000 after buying an additional 2,347,478 shares during the period. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Laura Alber acquired 2,571 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 19th. The stock was bought at an average price of $194.58 per share, for a total transaction of $500,265.18. Following the transaction, the director owned 9,530 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,854,347.40. The trade was a 36.94% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director David Blair Kirk acquired 2,570 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were bought at an average price of $194.62 per share, with a total value of $500,173.40. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 13,689 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,664,153.18. The trade was a 23.11% increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. 3.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Salesforce News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce’s Agentforce annual recurring revenue has surged to $1.2 billion, up 205% year over year, suggesting its AI push is gaining real traction and could support longer-term growth. Salesforce's AI Business Is Growing More Than 200%, but the Stock Is Near a 52-Week Low. Something Has to Give.
• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce’s acquisition of m3ter should help expand usage-based AI revenue by improving metering and billing for Agentforce and other AI products, which may open new monetization opportunities. Salesforce m3ter Deal Highlights Shift Toward Usage Based AI Revenue
• Positive Sentiment: Reports that Salesforce’s stake in Anthropic has risen to about $5 billion highlight its strategic exposure to a leading AI startup and reinforce the company’s commitment to AI investment. Salesforce’s Anthropic Stake Reportedly Reaches $5 Billion as AI Startup Eyes IPO, Bloomberg Reports
• Neutral Sentiment: TitanX expanded its Salesforce integration with automated phone intent scoring and contact enrichment, which is incremental ecosystem news but not likely to move CRM shares by itself. TitanX Expands Salesforce and HubSpot Integrations with Automated Phone Intent™ Scoring and Contact Enrichment
• Negative Sentiment: Several recent articles note that Salesforce stock is still sliding, near a 52-week low, and that investors remain skeptical despite AI growth, reflecting ongoing valuation and execution concerns. Our Salesforce Stock Pick Has Flopped. We're Moving On.
• Negative Sentiment: Broader cloud-stock weakness, highlighted by Oracle’s sharp decline after earnings, is adding sector pressure that can weigh on Salesforce even when company-specific news is positive. Oracle Plunges 10% After Earnings, Salesforce Slips Near 52-Week Lows as Cloud Stocks Slide

Analyst Ratings Changes

CRM has been the subject of several analyst reports. KeyCorp reduced their price objective on Salesforce from $300.00 to $290.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. Barclays reduced their price objective on Salesforce from $252.00 to $236.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on Salesforce from $225.00 to $215.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. 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 report on Tuesday, March 10th. Finally, BTIG Research reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $255.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. One 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 assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $259.26.

Salesforce Stock Performance

CRM opened at $166.81 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $136.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.79. Salesforce Inc. has a 1-year low of $163.31 and a 1-year high of $276.80. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $180.50 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $207.18.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 27th. The CRM provider reported $3.88 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 the consensus estimate of $11.05 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.58 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 14.060-14.120 EPS and its Q2 2027 guidance at 3.250-3.270 EPS. Research analysts predict that Salesforce Inc. will post 10.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Monday, March 16th that authorizes the company to buyback $25.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the CRM provider to reacquire up to 14.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often a sign that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 11th will be given a $0.44 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 11th. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. Salesforce's payout ratio is 20.37%.

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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