Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. Sells 121,819 Shares of Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. cut its position in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 7.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,530,749 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 121,819 shares during the quarter. Salesforce accounts for about 2.1% of Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest holding. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $405,511,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Salesforce by 6.1% during the 4th quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 8,038 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $2,129,000 after acquiring an additional 465 shares in the last quarter. Addison Advisors LLC raised its position in Salesforce by 6.8% during the fourth quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 2,123 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $562,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares in the last quarter. Heritage Investors Management Corp lifted its stake in Salesforce by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Heritage Investors Management Corp now owns 191,430 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $50,712,000 after purchasing an additional 4,346 shares during the last quarter. FourThought Financial Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 13.9% in the 4th quarter. FourThought Financial Partners LLC now owns 21,625 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $5,729,000 after purchasing an additional 2,638 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 28.7% in the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 25,208 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $6,678,000 after purchasing an additional 5,616 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Deutsche Bank reiterated its Buy rating on Salesforce and kept a $255 price target, saying it expects a “seasonally slow but steady” start ahead of earnings. Deutsche Bank Stays Positive on Salesforce (CRM), Citi Lowers PT
• Positive Sentiment: Cint expanded its relationship with Salesforce to deliver next-generation AI-powered support, reinforcing demand for Salesforce’s Agentforce and Slack-based enterprise AI tools. Cint and Salesforce to Deliver the Next Generation of AI-Powered Support
• Positive Sentiment: Several articles highlighted Salesforce as a beneficiary of ongoing investor interest in AI and big data, and noted that the company’s upcoming earnings report is expected to show growth and could support another beat. Wall Street’s Insights Into Key Metrics Ahead of Salesforce (CRM) Q1 Earnings
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst commentary around CRM remains mixed overall, with some broker notes still constructive while valuation-focused pieces question how much growth and AI moat are already priced in.
• Negative Sentiment: Citi reportedly lowered its price target on Salesforce due to slower deal activity and rising competitive pressure, adding to investor caution. Citi Lowers Target on Salesforce (CRM) Over Slower Deal Activity
• Negative Sentiment: Bank of America reinstated an Underperform rating and a $160 price target, arguing Salesforce faces an “AI-driven structural reset,” which weighed on sentiment. Salesforce rated ‘Underperform’ by Bank of America on AI growth concerns

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director David Blair Kirk bought 2,570 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $194.62 per share, with a total value of $500,173.40. Following the transaction, the director owned 13,689 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,664,153.18. This trade represents a 23.11% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Laura Alber purchased 2,571 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 19th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $1,854,347.40. This trade represents a 36.94% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Corporate insiders own 3.50% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Stock Performance

NYSE CRM opened at $176.35 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $144.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.58, a PEG ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. Salesforce Inc. has a twelve month low of $163.52 and a twelve month high of $286.35. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $182.53 and a 200 day simple moving average of $213.21.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.05 by $0.76. The firm had revenue of $11.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.18 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 15.38% and a net margin of 17.96%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.78 EPS. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 13.110-13.190 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 3.110-3.130 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Salesforce Inc. will post 9.71 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Monday, March 16th that allows the company to buyback $25.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the CRM provider to purchase 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 stock is undervalued.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 9th were issued a $0.44 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 9th. This is a boost from Salesforce’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 22.54%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CRM has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. TD Cowen lowered their price target on Salesforce from $325.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Roth Mkm reduced their price objective on Salesforce from $395.00 to $325.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Salesforce from $365.00 to $320.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Oppenheimer lowered their target price on Salesforce from $275.00 to $250.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price target on shares of Salesforce from $290.00 to $210.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have given a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $274.12.

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.