First Eagle Investment Management LLC Has $1.14 Billion Stake in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

First Eagle Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 17.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,319,206 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 628,382 shares during the period. Salesforce comprises about 2.0% of First Eagle Investment Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest holding. First Eagle Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $1,144,201,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Salesforce by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 89,843,166 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $23,800,353,000 after acquiring an additional 270,913 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Salesforce by 0.3% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 49,420,657 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $11,732,966,000 after buying an additional 159,739 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its stake 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 in the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in 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 buying an additional 10,636,161 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in Salesforce by 11.8% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 7,155,512 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,695,856,000 after buying an additional 754,116 shares in the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director David Blair Kirk acquired 2,570 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were bought at an average price of $194.62 per share, for a total transaction of $500,173.40. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 13,689 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,664,153.18. This trade represents a 23.11% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Laura Alber acquired 2,571 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 19th. The shares were bought at an average price of $194.58 per share, for a total transaction of $500,265.18. Following the purchase, the director owned 9,530 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,854,347.40. This represents a 36.94% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Corporate insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on CRM shares. DA Davidson cut their price target on shares of Salesforce from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Truist Financial set a $280.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Salesforce from $235.00 to $210.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price objective on Salesforce from $290.00 to $210.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Salesforce has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $279.18.

Salesforce Stock Down 2.4%

CRM stock opened at $177.52 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The stock has a market capitalization of $145.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.73, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.14. The business has a 50-day moving average of $186.13 and a 200-day moving average of $217.79. Salesforce Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $163.52 and a fifty-two week high of $296.05.

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

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

Salesforce Increases Dividend

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

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.