Salesforce Inc. $CRM Stake Increased by Bank of New York Mellon Corp

Key Points

• Bank of New York Mellon increased its Salesforce stake by 8.9% in the fourth quarter, adding 505,522 shares to bring its total to 6.19 million shares valued at about $1.64 billion.
• Salesforce reported better-than-expected quarterly results, posting EPS of $3.88 versus the $3.13 estimate and revenue of $11.13 billion, up 13.3% year over year.
• The company continues to draw bullish analyst and insider attention, with a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy,” a $257.97 price target, and recent director purchases alongside a newly authorized $25 billion share buyback.

Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 8.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,186,868 shares of the CRM provider's stock after buying an additional 505,522 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned about 0.66% of Salesforce worth $1,638,963,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Board of the Pension Protection Fund bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Key Capital Management INC acquired a new position in Salesforce in the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Legacy Bridge LLC acquired a new position in Salesforce in the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Texas Capital Bancshares Inc TX acquired a new position in Salesforce in the third quarter worth $28,000. Finally, Dogwood Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Salesforce by 285.7% in the fourth quarter. Dogwood Wealth Management LLC now owns 108 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.43% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CRM has been the subject of a number of research reports. Truist Financial set a $280.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, May 28th. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $194.00 to $173.00 and set an "underperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 28th. Canaccord Genuity Group decreased their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $250.00 to $225.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 28th. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a "market outperform" rating on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, May 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have given a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Salesforce currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $257.97.

Insider Activity

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

Salesforce Stock Performance

CRM stock opened at $200.82 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $164.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.24, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $181.06 and a 200 day simple moving average of $210.11. Salesforce Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $163.52 and a fifty-two week high of $276.80. 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 (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 27th. The CRM provider reported $3.88 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.13 by $0.75. Salesforce had a net margin of 18.73% and a return on equity of 18.72%. The business had revenue of $11.13 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.05 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.58 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue 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. Sell-side analysts predict that Salesforce Inc. will post 9.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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 0.9%. Salesforce's payout ratio is 20.37%.

Salesforce declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase 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 stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often a sign that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Key Headlines Impacting Salesforce

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 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.

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