Smithbridge Asset Management Inc. DE Lowers Stake in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Smithbridge Asset Management Inc. DE lessened its holdings in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 54.1% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 8,676 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 10,227 shares during the quarter. Smithbridge Asset Management Inc. DE’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $1,620,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Salesforce by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 89,843,166 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $23,800,353,000 after buying an additional 270,913 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its stake in Salesforce by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 50,080,230 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $13,286,909,000 after acquiring an additional 659,573 shares during the period. J. Stern & Co. LLP increased its holdings in Salesforce by 24,056.7% in the 4th quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 47,385,511 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $12,552,896,000 after acquiring an additional 47,189,352 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its holdings in Salesforce by 13.3% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 22,721,010 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $6,019,199,000 after acquiring an additional 2,669,891 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Salesforce by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 21,782,556 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $5,751,073,000 after acquiring an additional 791,345 shares during the period. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Salesforce from a “buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Wedbush assumed coverage on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Wednesday. They issued an “outperform” rating on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Salesforce from $210.00 to $200.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. BTIG Research reissued a “buy” rating and set a $255.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. Finally, Barclays upgraded Salesforce from an “overweight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have issued a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $254.42.

Salesforce Stock Performance

Shares of Salesforce stock opened at $163.32 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $174.14 and its 200 day moving average price is $198.62. The company has a market cap of $133.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.90, a PEG ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.18. 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 Inc. has a one year low of $146.32 and a one year high of $276.80.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last issued its earnings results 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 company 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 firm’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $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, research analysts predict that Salesforce Inc. will post 10.29 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

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

Salesforce declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Monday, March 16th that permits the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the CRM provider to repurchase up to 14.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Salesforce News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Guggenheim upgraded Salesforce to Buy and argued that recent selloff levels make the shares more attractive, helping lift sentiment around the stock. Salesforce Will Face AI Disruption but Stock Still Gets an Upgrade to Buy
• Positive Sentiment: Other commentary echoed the upgrade, with analysts saying Salesforce and other beaten-down software names may be poised for a rebound after recent pressure. Upgrade Boosts 2 Beaten-Down Software Stocks
• Positive Sentiment: Citizens reiterated a Market Outperform rating following Salesforce’s Fin acquisition and Agentforce expansion, reinforcing the bull case that AI and product integration can support future upside. Citizens Reiterates Market Outperform Rating on Salesforce (CRM) Following Fin Acquisition and Agentforce Expansion
• Neutral Sentiment: Several articles highlighted that Salesforce has fallen sharply over the past month and June, which frames the stock as a deep pullback candidate but also shows ongoing investor skepticism about growth and AI monetization. Salesforce (CRM) Down More Than 10% Over the Past Month, Here’s What You Need to Know
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts continue debating Salesforce’s AI growth outlook, with some trimming fair value estimates while others say recent weakness may have overdone concerns around AI “hallucination” and competition. Salesforce (CRM) Stock Sees Modest Fair Value Cut As Analysts Debate AI Growth

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.