Sustainable Growth Advisers LP Raises Holdings in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Key Points

• Sustainable Growth Advisers LP increased its Salesforce stake by 5.3% in the fourth quarter, adding 106,964 shares and bringing its holdings to 2.14 million shares valued at about $567.3 million. Salesforce is now the fund’s 8th largest position.
• Wall Street sentiment remains mostly positive, with Salesforce holding a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $257.97. Recent analyst actions were mixed, including buy reiterations from TD Cowen and BTIG, alongside a downgrade from Weiss Ratings and an underperform call from Bank of America.
• Salesforce reported solid quarterly results and continues shareholder returns, beating EPS and revenue estimates with $3.88 EPS and $11.13 billion in revenue, up 13.3% year over year. The company also approved a $25 billion share repurchase program and declared a quarterly dividend of $0.44 per share.

Sustainable Growth Advisers LP raised its holdings in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 5.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,141,335 shares of the CRM provider's stock after buying an additional 106,964 shares during the quarter. Salesforce comprises 3.9% of Sustainable Growth Advisers LP's investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest position. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP owned approximately 0.23% of Salesforce worth $567,261,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Board of the Pension Protection Fund bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Key Capital Management INC bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Legacy Bridge LLC bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Texas Capital Bancshares Inc TX bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Finally, Dogwood Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 285.7% in the 4th quarter. Dogwood Wealth Management LLC now owns 108 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Citigroup reiterated a "market outperform" rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday. TD Cowen cut their price objective on Salesforce from $250.00 to $240.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. Weiss Ratings lowered Salesforce from a "hold (c-)" rating to a "sell (d+)" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. Bank of America started coverage on Salesforce in a research report on Monday, May 18th. They issued an "underperform" rating and a $160.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, BTIG Research restated a "buy" rating and issued a $255.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have assigned a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $257.97.

Key Stories Impacting Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce is benefiting from a broader rebound in software stocks after Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang eased fears that AI will disrupt the software industry, giving CRM and peers a fresh tailwind. NOW, IBM, software stocks surge as Huang eases AI fears; analysts see more upside
• Positive Sentiment: Investors are also focused on Salesforce’s expanding AI strategy, including a reported Contentful acquisition and continued rollout of Agentforce and related enterprise AI tools, which reinforces the company’s growth narrative. CRM Stock Jumps Amid Software Rally — Company Expands AI Push With Contentful Acquisition
• Positive Sentiment: Recent earnings remain a key support for the stock: Salesforce beat on both EPS and revenue, posted strong year-over-year growth, and delivered solid cash flow, helping sustain investor confidence despite broader market volatility. Salesforce, Inc. (CRM) Beats on Earnings and Revenue
• Neutral Sentiment: Salesforce continues to attract heavy investor attention online, reflecting elevated interest in the stock, but the article did not add new fundamental information likely to move shares. Investors Heavily Search Salesforce, Inc. (CRM): Here is What You Need to Know
• Neutral Sentiment: A Zacks review of Salesforce’s international revenue exposure is mainly a reminder that a meaningful portion of sales comes from overseas markets, which can affect stability and growth, but it was not a fresh catalyst. Salesforce (CRM) Reliance on International Sales: What Investors Need to Know
• Negative Sentiment: Some commentary continues to question whether Salesforce can thrive in an AI-dominated software landscape, and BMO trimmed its price target after earnings, which suggests some caution remains around valuation and future upside. Is Salesforce (CRM) the Best Undervalued Stock to Buy According to the Financial Media?

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Laura Alber acquired 2,571 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 19th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $194.58 per share, for a total transaction 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director David Blair Kirk acquired 2,570 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 purchase, the director directly owned 13,689 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,664,153.18. The trade was 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 Up 9.5%

Shares of NYSE:CRM opened at $209.33 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $181.06 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $210.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $171.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.23, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.16. Salesforce Inc. has a 12-month low of $163.52 and a 12-month high of $276.80. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 27th. The CRM provider reported $3.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.13 by $0.75. The business had revenue of $11.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $11.05 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 18.72% and a net margin of 18.73%.The firm's quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.58 earnings per share. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 14.060-14.120 EPS and its Q2 2027 guidance at 3.250-3.270 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Salesforce Inc. will post 9.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.44 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 11th. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. Salesforce's payout ratio is presently 20.37%.

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

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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