Xponance LLC Increases Position in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Xponance LLC grew its stake in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 14.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 173,221 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 21,915 shares during the quarter. Xponance LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $45,888,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Board of the Pension Protection Fund acquired a new position in Salesforce during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Key Capital Management INC acquired a new position in Salesforce during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Gilpin Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Salesforce during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Finally, Legacy Bridge LLC acquired a new position in Salesforce during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Salesforce

In other news, Director David Blair Kirk acquired 2,570 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $194.62 per share, for a total transaction of $500,173.40. Following the purchase, the director owned 13,689 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,664,153.18. This represents a 23.11% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Laura Alber acquired 2,571 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 19th. The shares were purchased 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 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. 3.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Key Headlines Impacting Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce’s Agentforce annual recurring revenue has surged to $1.2 billion, up 205% year over year, suggesting its AI push is gaining real traction and could support longer-term growth. Salesforce’s AI Business Is Growing More Than 200%, but the Stock Is Near a 52-Week Low. Something Has to Give.
• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce’s acquisition of m3ter should help expand usage-based AI revenue by improving metering and billing for Agentforce and other AI products, which may open new monetization opportunities. Salesforce m3ter Deal Highlights Shift Toward Usage Based AI Revenue
• Positive Sentiment: Reports that Salesforce’s stake in Anthropic has risen to about $5 billion highlight its strategic exposure to a leading AI startup and reinforce the company’s commitment to AI investment. Salesforce’s Anthropic Stake Reportedly Reaches $5 Billion as AI Startup Eyes IPO, Bloomberg Reports
• Neutral Sentiment: TitanX expanded its Salesforce integration with automated phone intent scoring and contact enrichment, which is incremental ecosystem news but not likely to move CRM shares by itself. TitanX Expands Salesforce and HubSpot Integrations with Automated Phone Intent™ Scoring and Contact Enrichment
• Negative Sentiment: Several recent articles note that Salesforce stock is still sliding, near a 52-week low, and that investors remain skeptical despite AI growth, reflecting ongoing valuation and execution concerns. Our Salesforce Stock Pick Has Flopped. We’re Moving On.
• Negative Sentiment: Broader cloud-stock weakness, highlighted by Oracle’s sharp decline after earnings, is adding sector pressure that can weigh on Salesforce even when company-specific news is positive. Oracle Plunges 10% After Earnings, Salesforce Slips Near 52-Week Lows as Cloud Stocks Slide

Salesforce Stock Performance

Shares of CRM stock opened at $166.81 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $136.61 billion, a PE ratio of 19.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.16. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $180.50 and a 200-day simple moving average of $207.18. 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 Inc. has a 52-week low of $163.31 and a 52-week high of $276.80.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 27th. The CRM provider reported $3.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 company’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.58 EPS. 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 analysts expect that Salesforce Inc. will post 10.3 EPS for the current year.

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

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The company 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. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 11th. Salesforce’s payout ratio is 20.37%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently issued reports on CRM shares. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, June 4th. DA Davidson dropped their price target on Salesforce from $200.00 to $175.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. Daiwa Securities Group cut their price objective on Salesforce from $295.00 to $280.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. HSBC raised their price objective on Salesforce from $350.00 to $356.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Salesforce from $365.00 to $320.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven 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 MarketBeat, Salesforce presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $259.26.

Salesforce Company 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.