William Blair Investment Management LLC Lowers Holdings in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

William Blair Investment Management LLC trimmed its holdings in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 94.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 28,947 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 539,419 shares during the period. William Blair Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $7,668,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CRM. Capital World Investors grew its position in Salesforce by 159.0% in the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 17,325,206 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $4,106,255,000 after acquiring an additional 10,636,161 shares during the period. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce during the third quarter worth $484,852,000. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. boosted its position in shares of Salesforce by 285.4% during the third quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 2,487,627 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $589,568,000 after buying an additional 1,842,117 shares during the period. Generation Investment Management LLP purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce during the third quarter worth $431,157,000. Finally, Capital International Investors boosted its position in shares of Salesforce by 9.4% during the third quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 20,051,119 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $4,753,519,000 after buying an additional 1,729,440 shares during the period. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key Stories Impacting Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: BTIG Research reaffirmed its Buy rating and raised its price target to $255, implying significant upside if Salesforce delivers a solid quarter. Benzinga report on BTIG price target
• Positive Sentiment: Jefferies expects an in-line Q1 and says partner surveys show many customers finished the quarter on plan or above plan, suggesting healthy demand and room for second-half growth. Salesforce earnings preview: Jefferies eyes in-line Q1, second-half growth key
• Positive Sentiment: Several bullish previews argue Salesforce’s Agentforce AI momentum could boost subscription revenue and help reignite investor confidence heading into results. Zacks Agentforce preview
• Positive Sentiment: Some analysts and investors continue to call Salesforce undervalued, pointing to strong revenue, high margins, and accelerating AI monetization as reasons the stock could recover. Seeking Alpha undervalued thesis
• Neutral Sentiment: Wall Street is broadly treating Wednesday’s report as a key test, with headlines focused on what Salesforce says about AI adoption, bookings, and second-half growth rather than on any one pre-report catalyst. Benzinga pre-earnings expectations
• Negative Sentiment: Bank of America reiterated an Underperform view, saying AI is a major risk for Salesforce and that the market may be discounting disruption to its core software business. BofA on Salesforce AI risk
• Negative Sentiment: Other recent commentary highlights continued concern that Salesforce shares have lagged sharply this year, with investors waiting for earnings to prove AI can reaccelerate growth. Zacks commentary on Salesforce

Salesforce Stock Down 0.3%

Salesforce stock opened at $179.51 on Wednesday. Salesforce Inc. has a 1-year low of $163.52 and a 1-year high of $278.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The stock has a market cap of $146.88 billion, a PE ratio of 22.98, a P/E/G ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.14. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $181.63 and its two-hundred day moving average is $211.60.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $11.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.18 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.78 earnings per share. Salesforce’s quarterly revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Salesforce Inc. will post 9.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director David Blair Kirk bought 2,570 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $194.62 per share, for a total transaction of $500,173.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 13,689 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,664,153.18. This trade represents a 23.11% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Laura Alber bought 2,571 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 19th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $194.58 per share, for a total transaction of $500,265.18. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 9,530 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,854,347.40. This represents a 36.94% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. 3.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CRM has been the subject of several research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Salesforce from $365.00 to $320.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $281.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Truist Financial set a $280.00 target price on Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Citigroup dropped their target price on Salesforce from $200.00 to $188.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, BTIG Research reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $255.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Tuesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have given a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $274.12.

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.