Artisan Partners Limited Partnership Acquires 22,351 Shares of Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Artisan Partners Limited Partnership boosted its holdings in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 3.8% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 610,938 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 22,351 shares during the quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $161,844,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Byrne Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Salesforce by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC now owns 4,331 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,147,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the period. Mathes Company Inc. boosted its stake in Salesforce by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Mathes Company Inc. now owns 12,558 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $2,976,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the period. Fred Alger Management LLC boosted its stake in Salesforce by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 14,943 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $3,548,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the period. Beacon Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Salesforce by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,372 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $325,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares during the period. Finally, Fulcrum Asset Management LLP boosted its stake in Salesforce by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Fulcrum Asset Management LLP now owns 2,774 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $657,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares during the period. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Salesforce Stock Performance

NYSE:CRM opened at $161.74 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $179.14 and its 200 day moving average is $205.79. Salesforce Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $160.50 and a fifty-two week high of $276.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $132.47 billion, a PE ratio of 18.72, a PEG ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.16. 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 released its quarterly earnings results 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 company had revenue of $11.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.05 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.58 EPS. Salesforce’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, sell-side analysts anticipate that Salesforce Inc. will post 10.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Monday, March 16th that allows the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the CRM provider to buy up to 14.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

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

Salesforce News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce is deepening its push into agentic AI by acquiring Fin, an AI customer-service platform that handles queries across chat, email, WhatsApp, SMS, phone and Slack. Investors are viewing the deal as a strategic step that could strengthen Salesforce’s position in the fast-growing AI automation market. Reuters article
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts at firms including Wedbush, Canaccord Genuity and Needham reaffirmed bullish views, with price targets well above the current share price, suggesting Wall Street sees meaningful upside if Salesforce’s AI strategy gains traction. Benzinga article
• Positive Sentiment: Commentary around Salesforce’s strong cash generation, rising margins and a $50 billion buyback plan is supporting the investment case by highlighting its ability to fund acquisitions while still returning capital to shareholders. Yahoo Finance article
• Neutral Sentiment: Wedbush said the Fin purchase shows Salesforce is moving faster than expected to secure the AI agent market, but investors are still waiting to see whether these acquisitions translate into faster revenue growth and better returns. Proactive Investors article
• Negative Sentiment: Some coverage is focusing on Salesforce’s steep share-price decline over the past year and the concern that its acquisition-heavy strategy has not yet restored investor confidence, keeping pressure on CRM stock. Invezz article

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Salesforce news, Director Laura Alber bought 2,571 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 19th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $194.58 per share, for a total transaction of $500,265.18. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 9,530 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,854,347.40. This trade represents a 36.94% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 3.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on Salesforce from $300.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Northland Securities decreased their price objective on Salesforce from $267.00 to $229.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 10th. Piper Sandler cut Salesforce from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, May 28th. DA Davidson decreased their price objective on Salesforce from $200.00 to $175.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 28th. Finally, Macquarie Infrastructure decreased their price objective on Salesforce from $200.00 to $190.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 28th. One 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $259.26.

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.