Ally Financial Inc. Grows Position in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Ally Financial Inc. increased its position in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 18.2% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 32,500 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after buying an additional 5,000 shares during the quarter. Salesforce accounts for about 1.1% of Ally Financial Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 15th biggest position. Ally Financial Inc.’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $8,610,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Salesforce during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Board of the Pension Protection Fund acquired a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Key Capital Management INC acquired a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Gilpin Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Finally, Legacy Bridge LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Stock Performance

NYSE CRM opened at $166.07 on Friday. Salesforce Inc. has a 1-year low of $161.40 and a 1-year high of $276.80. The company has a market capitalization of $136.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.22, a PEG ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.16. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $180.10 and a 200 day moving average price of $206.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.79.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 27th. The CRM provider reported $3.88 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.13 by $0.75. Salesforce had a return on equity of 18.72% and a net margin of 18.73%.The firm had revenue of $11.13 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.05 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.58 EPS. Salesforce’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 14.060-14.120 EPS and its Q2 2027 guidance at 3.250-3.270 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Salesforce Inc. will post 10.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 11th will be given a dividend of $0.44 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 11th. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.37%.

Salesforce declared that its board has authorized a stock 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 reacquire up to 14.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Key Salesforce News

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce’s latest quarter was strong, with revenue of $11.13 billion, EPS of $3.88, and AI/data ARR rising to $3.4 billion; Agentforce alone reached $1.2 billion in ARR, reinforcing the company’s AI growth story and supporting the bullish case. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Erste Group Bank raised its earnings expectations for Salesforce, estimating FY2027 EPS at $10.17 and FY2028 EPS at $11.07, which suggests confidence in longer-term profitability. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce is getting renewed attention from market watchers, and several articles highlight that its AI pivot and low valuation could attract investors if execution continues to improve. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Salesforce is also being discussed in the context of broader software-sector weakness, with investors favoring AI infrastructure and chip names over traditional subscription software. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Salesforce announced another round of layoffs tied to its AI and Marketing Cloud teams, signaling restructuring pressure as it shifts toward AI-focused and usage-based monetization models. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Several reports note that CRM shares are near 52-week lows as investors worry the market is rotating away from legacy software names, keeping pressure on the stock despite solid fundamentals. Article Title

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on CRM. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Salesforce from $210.00 to $200.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 28th. Oppenheimer reduced their price target on Salesforce from $275.00 to $250.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 26th. B. Riley Financial raised their price target on Salesforce from $205.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 28th. Bank of America began coverage on Salesforce in a report on Monday, May 18th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $160.00 price target for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Salesforce from $398.00 to $287.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have assigned a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Salesforce presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $259.26.

Insider Buying and Selling at Salesforce

In related news, Director Laura Alber purchased 2,571 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 19th. The stock was bought at an average price of $194.58 per share, with a total value of $500,265.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the director 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 acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director David Blair Kirk purchased 2,570 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $194.62 per share, with a total value of $500,173.40. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 13,689 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,664,153.18. This represents a 23.11% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Company insiders own 3.50% of the company’s stock.

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.