J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. Reduces Stock Position in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. lessened its holdings in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 26.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 16,672 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 5,847 shares during the quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $4,417,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of CRM. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Salesforce in the fourth quarter valued at $3,182,951,000. Capital World Investors increased its holdings in Salesforce by 159.0% in the third 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 during the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Salesforce in the third quarter valued at $484,852,000. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. boosted its stake in Salesforce by 285.4% in the third 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Generation Investment Management LLP acquired a new position in Salesforce in the third quarter valued at $431,157,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Price Performance

Shares of CRM opened at $185.85 on Friday. Salesforce Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $163.52 and a fifty-two week high of $276.80. The company has a market capitalization of $152.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.16. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $181.31 and a 200-day simple moving average of $208.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced its earnings results 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 firm earned $2.58 earnings per share. The business’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. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Salesforce Inc. will post 10.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Stockholders 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is 20.37%.

Salesforce announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Monday, March 16th that permits the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the CRM provider to reacquire up to 14.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have issued reports on CRM shares. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $250.00 to $240.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. KeyCorp decreased their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $300.00 to $290.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. Citigroup restated a “market outperform” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. Finally, Bank of America started coverage on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Monday, May 18th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $160.00 price objective for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have issued a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Salesforce presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $257.97.

Insider Activity

In other Salesforce news, Director David Blair Kirk bought 2,570 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was acquired 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 owned 13,689 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,664,153.18. This represents a 23.11% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Laura Alber bought 2,571 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 19th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $194.58 per share, with a total value of $500,265.18. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 9,530 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,854,347.40. This trade represents a 36.94% increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. 3.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Trending Headlines about Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce announced a landmark partnership with FIFA for the 2026 World Cup and 2027 Women’s World Cup, which could showcase its AI-driven Agentforce 360 platform to a massive global audience and potentially drive future enterprise demand. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: KeyCorp kept an Overweight rating and a $290 price target on Salesforce, while modeling earnings above consensus for FY2027, signaling continued analyst confidence in the company’s profit growth. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Recent commentary highlights Salesforce’s strong momentum, helped by its AI strategy, Agentforce rollout, recurring revenue base, and expanding free cash flow, which may keep long-term investors interested. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Salesforce’s presentation at the Evercore Global TMT Conference and valuation-focused coverage suggest investors are still reassessing how much of the AI and Agentforce optimism is already priced in. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Bridgewater Associates reportedly sold Salesforce, which can pressure sentiment in the near term, although the article argues that institutional selling may create a better entry point for patient investors. 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.