World Investment Advisors Increases Stock Holdings in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

World Investment Advisors lifted its position in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 6.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 72,134 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,329 shares during the quarter. World Investment Advisors’ holdings in Salesforce were worth $18,609,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of CRM. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 159.0% in the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 17,325,206 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $4,106,255,000 after purchasing an additional 10,636,161 shares during the period. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the third quarter valued at about $484,852,000. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. lifted its position in Salesforce by 285.4% in the third quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 2,487,627 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $589,568,000 after buying an additional 1,842,117 shares during the last quarter. Generation Investment Management LLP acquired a new position in Salesforce in the third quarter valued at about $431,157,000. Finally, Capital International Investors lifted its position in Salesforce by 9.4% in the third quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 20,051,119 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $4,753,519,000 after buying an additional 1,729,440 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Key Salesforce News

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce continues to generate strong cash flow, with fiscal 2026 free cash flow of about $14.4 billion supporting shareholder returns and investments in AI products like Agentforce and Data 360.
• Positive Sentiment: Broker coverage remains constructive overall, with analysts describing CRM as a “Moderate Buy”, which can help support investor confidence.
• Neutral Sentiment: Citigroup lowered its price target on Salesforce from $200 to $188 while keeping a neutral rating, signaling more cautious expectations but still implying some upside from current levels.
• Neutral Sentiment: Wells Fargo reiterated a Hold rating, reinforcing a mixed Wall Street view rather than a clear bullish or bearish shift.
• Neutral Sentiment: News reports noted that Salesforce has been trading at a discounted valuation after its recent slide, with investors weighing the stock’s lower price against improving recurring revenue from Agentforce and Data Cloud.
• Negative Sentiment: Salesforce slipped more than the broader market in the latest session, reflecting ongoing investor caution around the stock’s recent weakness.
• Negative Sentiment: A research note highlighted that the Salesforce delivery lifecycle is “broken,” pointing to execution inefficiencies and operational friction that could weigh on sentiment if not addressed.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on CRM. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Salesforce from $200.00 to $188.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $375.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $400.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their target price on shares of Salesforce from $223.00 to $194.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Salesforce from $235.00 to $210.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have given a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $278.82.

Insider Activity

In other Salesforce news, Director David Blair Kirk purchased 2,570 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $194.62 per share, with a total value of $500,173.40. Following the completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Laura Alber bought 2,571 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 19th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $194.58 per share, for a total transaction of $500,265.18. Following the acquisition, the director owned 9,530 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,854,347.40. This represents a 36.94% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. 3.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Salesforce Stock Down 3.5%

Shares of CRM opened at $171.28 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $140.14 billion, a PE ratio of 21.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.14. Salesforce Inc. has a 1 year low of $163.52 and a 1 year high of $296.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.76. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $185.67 and its 200-day simple moving average is $217.19.

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

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 9th were given a dividend of $0.44 per share. This is a boost from Salesforce’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 9th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is currently 22.54%.

Salesforce announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Monday, March 16th that permits the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the CRM provider to reacquire up to 14.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.