Salesforce Inc. $CRM Shares Sold by Profund Advisors LLC

Key Points

• Profund Advisors LLC reduced its Salesforce stake by 16.9% in the fourth quarter, selling 6,764 shares and leaving it with 33,277 shares valued at about $8.8 million.
• Several analysts turned cautious on Salesforce, including Bank of America, which initiated coverage with an Underperform rating and a $160 price target, citing concerns that the AI story may be losing momentum.
• Despite mixed sentiment, Salesforce reported solid fundamentals: it beat quarterly EPS estimates, posted 12.1% revenue growth, and authorized a $25 billion share buyback while also raising its quarterly dividend to $0.44 per share.

Profund Advisors LLC cut its stake in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 16.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 33,277 shares of the CRM provider's stock after selling 6,764 shares during the period. Profund Advisors LLC's holdings in Salesforce were worth $8,815,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in Salesforce by 159.0% in the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 17,325,206 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $4,106,255,000 after buying an additional 10,636,161 shares in the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce during the 3rd quarter worth $484,852,000. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 285.4% during the 3rd quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 2,487,627 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $589,568,000 after acquiring an additional 1,842,117 shares during the period. Generation Investment Management LLP acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce during the 3rd quarter valued at about $431,157,000. Finally, Capital International Investors boosted its position in shares of Salesforce by 9.4% during the 3rd quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 20,051,119 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $4,753,519,000 after acquiring an additional 1,729,440 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company's stock.

Key Salesforce News

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Negative Sentiment: Bank of America initiated coverage on Salesforce with an Underperform rating and a $160 price target, implying downside from current levels. The call raised concerns that the company’s AI narrative may be losing momentum and appears to be the most stock-moving headline for CRM today. Benzinga report on Bank of America coverage
• Negative Sentiment: Another market note highlighted Salesforce among software laggards that have been hit by broad sector selling, reinforcing the idea that investors remain cautious on the stock despite AI-related growth potential. Zacks commentary
• Neutral Sentiment: A separate analysis argued that Salesforce may still be attractive versus Oracle because of its steadier growth profile and cheaper valuation, offering a counterpoint to the bearish broker view. Zacks comparison article
• Neutral Sentiment: Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff also continued promoting the company’s AI efforts, saying Slack AI can surface employee concerns and decisions, which supports the long-term AI story but is not an immediate catalyst. Business Insider article
• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce also received a bullish longer-term mention as one of several AI-powered software laggards that could offer short-term upside, suggesting some investors still see value after the selloff. Zacks AI-powered laggards article

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director David Blair Kirk acquired 2,570 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was bought at an average price of $194.62 per share, for a total transaction of $500,173.40. Following the completion of the purchase, 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Laura Alber purchased 2,571 shares of the company'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 purchase, the director directly 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 SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Company insiders own 3.50% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on CRM. DA Davidson cut their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an "overweight" rating on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, February 26th. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Salesforce from $260.00 to $200.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Northland Securities cut their price target on shares of Salesforce from $267.00 to $229.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 10th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $400.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have issued a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $274.56.

Salesforce Trading Up 3.4%

Shares of CRM stock opened at $179.39 on Tuesday. Salesforce Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $163.52 and a fifty-two week high of $289.90. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $183.73 and a 200 day moving average price of $214.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $146.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.20 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.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.05 by $0.76. The company had revenue of $11.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.18 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 15.38% and a net margin of 17.96%.Salesforce's revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company 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. Equities research analysts predict that Salesforce Inc. will post 9.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 9th were issued a $0.44 dividend. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 9th. This is a positive change from Salesforce's previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. Salesforce's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 22.54%.

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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding CRM? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report).

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.