Whittier Trust Co. Sells 4,022 Shares of Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Key Points

• Whittier Trust sold 4,022 Salesforce shares (an 11.9% reduction) and now holds 29,913 shares valued at $7.86M; institutional investors own 80.43% of CRM and several large funds materially increased positions (e.g., Capital World Investors to 17.3M shares).
• Salesforce beat expectations on the latest quarter with EPS $3.81 vs. $3.05 est. and revenue $11.20B (up 12.1% YoY), and set FY2027 EPS guidance of $13.110–$13.190.
• The board authorized a $25.0 billion share buyback (about 14.1% of shares) and raised the quarterly dividend to $0.44 ($1.76 annual, ~1.0% yield), while two directors purchased ~2,570 shares each at roughly $194.6 apiece.

Whittier Trust Co. lowered its stake in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 11.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 29,913 shares of the CRM provider's stock after selling 4,022 shares during the quarter. Whittier Trust Co.'s holdings in Salesforce were worth $7,864,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of CRM. Capital World Investors increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 159.0% during 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 purchasing an additional 10,636,161 shares during the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Salesforce in the 3rd quarter valued at $484,852,000. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. grew its position in Salesforce by 285.4% in the 3rd quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 2,487,627 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $589,568,000 after acquiring an additional 1,842,117 shares during the last quarter. Generation Investment Management LLP bought a new position in Salesforce in the 3rd quarter valued at $431,157,000. Finally, Capital International Investors grew its position in Salesforce by 9.4% in 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. Institutional investors own 80.43% of the company's stock.

Salesforce Price Performance

CRM opened at $182.13 on Friday. Salesforce Inc. has a 12-month low of $163.52 and a 12-month 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 business's fifty day simple moving average is $187.87 and its 200-day simple moving average is $224.13. The company has a market capitalization of $168.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.32, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.29.

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, 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.18 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.78 EPS. The business's 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, equities research analysts anticipate that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.44 per share. This is an increase from Salesforce's previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 9th. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. Salesforce's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 22.54%.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CRM has been the topic of several research analyst reports. UBS Group cut their price objective on Salesforce from $260.00 to $200.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $400.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $281.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on Salesforce from $235.00 to $225.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, Truist Financial set a $280.00 price objective on Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have issued a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Salesforce has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $279.18.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director David Blair Kirk acquired 2,570 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $194.62 per share, for a total transaction 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. This trade represents a 23.11% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Laura Alber acquired 2,571 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 19th. The shares were bought at an average price of $194.58 per share, with a total value of $500,265.18. Following the completion of 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 disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 3.00% of the company's stock.

Key Salesforce News

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: BTIG reaffirmed a "buy" on CRM and set a $255 price target (≈40% upside vs. current levels), giving institutional backing that can support further upside. BTIG Reaffirms Buy on Salesforce
• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce launched Headless 360, positioning its full platform as infrastructure for AI agents — a strategic move that could broaden addressable market and accelerate enterprise AI spending across the Salesforce stack. Salesforce launches Headless 360
• Positive Sentiment: Customer wins/expansions show traction for Agentforce 360 — travel platform Engine expanded use of AI agents and Slack, automating ~50% of chat cases, cutting handle time ~15% and improving satisfaction, which supports revenue upsell potential for contact-center automation. Engine expands Agentforce 360
• Positive Sentiment: Data 360 adoption shows strong momentum (reported ~200% ARR growth), highlighting a potential new growth driver for larger enterprise contracts and higher‑value deals. CRM's Data 360 Momentum Builds
• Neutral Sentiment: Software-sector momentum helped lift CRM amid a broad bounce in the IGV ETF; sector flows can amplify CRM moves but are not company‑specific fundamentals. Software Stocks Finish Week Hot
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst and media bullishness (e.g., opinion pieces expressing strong conviction) supports sentiment but is not new fundamental data; it can sustain momentum if paired with continued execution. Why I Have Strong Conviction In This Stock
• Negative Sentiment: A recent CMSWire review of Agentforce highlights strengths but also gaps versus rivals (implementation complexity and feature gaps in some areas), a reminder that competitive execution and product parity risk could temper adoption speed. Salesforce Agentforce Contact Center Review

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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