Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd Sells 4,644 Shares of Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Key Points

• Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management trimmed its position in Salesforce by 1.2% in Q4, selling 4,644 shares and leaving it with 369,498 shares valued at about $97.88 million (approximately 0.8% of its holdings and the firm's 27th largest position).
• Salesforce's board authorized a $25 billion share buyback (repurchasing up to ~14.1% of shares) and raised the quarterly dividend to $0.44, marking a notable increase in capital returns to shareholders.
• Salesforce reported a quarterly earnings beat (EPS $3.81 vs. $3.05 consensus) on $11.20 billion in revenue, provided FY2027 EPS guidance of 13.110–13.190, and carries a consensus analyst rating of "Moderate Buy" with a $279.18 price target.

Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd lessened its stake in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 1.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 369,498 shares of the CRM provider's stock after selling 4,644 shares during the quarter. Salesforce comprises approximately 0.8% of Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd's holdings, making the stock its 27th largest position. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd's holdings in Salesforce were worth $97,884,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in CRM. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 13.7% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 25,668 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $8,582,000 after acquiring an additional 3,102 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 12.6% during the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,827 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $611,000 after acquiring an additional 205 shares in the last quarter. Bison Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 9.0% during the 4th quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 2,234 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $747,000 after acquiring an additional 184 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 3.7% during the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,958 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $807,000 after acquiring an additional 106 shares in the last quarter. Finally, United Bank boosted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 5.2% during the 2nd quarter. United Bank now owns 10,198 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $2,781,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.43% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director David Blair Kirk bought 2,570 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $194.62 per share, with a total value of $500,173.40. Following the acquisition, the director owned 13,689 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,664,153.18. This represents a 23.11% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Laura Alber bought 2,571 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 acquisition, the director owned 9,530 shares in the company, valued at $1,854,347.40. This represents a 36.94% increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Corporate insiders own 3.00% of the company's stock.

Salesforce Trading Up 0.8%

Shares of CRM opened at $187.05 on Wednesday. Salesforce Inc. has a 1 year low of $163.52 and a 1 year high of $296.05. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $186.70 and a 200-day simple moving average of $219.76. The stock has a market cap of $153.05 billion, a PE ratio of 23.95, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.14.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.05 by $0.76. Salesforce had a return on equity of 15.38% and a net margin of 17.96%.The business had revenue of $11.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $11.18 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.78 EPS. Salesforce's quarterly revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. 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, sell-side analysts predict that Salesforce Inc. will post 9.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce announced that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Monday, March 16th that allows the company to buyback $25.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the CRM provider to repurchase up to 14.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 9th. This is a boost from Salesforce's previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. Salesforce's payout ratio is currently 22.54%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Truist Financial set a $280.00 price target on Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Citigroup increased their target price on Salesforce from $197.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. KeyCorp decreased their target price on Salesforce from $400.00 to $300.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 24th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Salesforce from $235.00 to $210.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, Roth Mkm decreased their target price on Salesforce from $395.00 to $325.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Salesforce presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $279.18.

More Salesforce News

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Launch of Agentforce Operations — Salesforce rolled out Agentforce Operations, a suite of specialized AI agents designed to automate complex, cross-system back‑office workflows. Investors see this as a meaningful productization of AI that could expand higher‑margin services and drive upsell across large enterprise accounts. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Deeper Google Cloud & ChatGPT integrations — New Google Cloud workflow integrations and enhanced ChatGPT-for-CRM capabilities let automated agents operate across multiple enterprise systems and LLMs, which can accelerate real‑world adoption and make Salesforce’s AI story more defensible versus pure-play rivals. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst sentiment remains constructive — The average brokerage recommendation sits at “Buy,” and coverage notes the strategic pivot and product launches as catalysts that could justify upside versus current multiples. That endorsement supports near‑term demand for the stock. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Valuation check & comparisons — Several pieces assess CRM’s valuation vs. peers (including a CRM vs. SPOT comparison) and highlight that while upside exists from AI-driven revenue, the stock’s forward multiples require execution to justify a higher valuation. Useful for re‑rating scenarios, but not immediate catalysts. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Industry context — Coverage noting large tech layoffs and where AI economics live is background risk/benefit context; it matters to margins and adoption timing but is not Salesforce‑specific. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Intensifying competition — Reports emphasize escalating AI‑agent rivalry with Microsoft and ongoing cloud competition with Oracle; larger rivals could pressure win rates, pricing, or margin expansion if deals tilt toward hyperscalers. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Recent price weakness — Commentary notes a sizable YTD share decline (reflecting earnings, macro and re‑rating risk). That keeps investor sensitivity high: strong execution on Agentforce and integrations is required to sustain a re‑rating. Article Title

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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