Vaughan David Investments LLC IL Buys 8,705 Shares of Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Vaughan David Investments LLC IL grew its holdings in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 5.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 157,189 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,705 shares during the period. Vaughan David Investments LLC IL’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $41,641,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Krilogy Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce in the 3rd quarter worth $2,944,000. Public Sector Pension Investment Board boosted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 40.9% in the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 897,917 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $212,806,000 after buying an additional 260,710 shares during the last quarter. Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co boosted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 27.7% in the 3rd quarter. Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co now owns 182,428 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $43,235,000 after buying an additional 39,600 shares during the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 12.7% in the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 31,075 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $7,365,000 after buying an additional 3,491 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Caisse Des Depots ET Consignations boosted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 21.0% in the 3rd quarter. Caisse Des Depots ET Consignations now owns 43,767 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $10,373,000 after buying an additional 7,610 shares during 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: Salesforce’s Agentforce annual recurring revenue has surged to $1.2 billion, up 205% year over year, suggesting its AI push is gaining real traction and could support longer-term growth. Salesforce’s AI Business Is Growing More Than 200%, but the Stock Is Near a 52-Week Low. Something Has to Give.
• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce’s acquisition of m3ter should help expand usage-based AI revenue by improving metering and billing for Agentforce and other AI products, which may open new monetization opportunities. Salesforce m3ter Deal Highlights Shift Toward Usage Based AI Revenue
• Positive Sentiment: Reports that Salesforce’s stake in Anthropic has risen to about $5 billion highlight its strategic exposure to a leading AI startup and reinforce the company’s commitment to AI investment. Salesforce’s Anthropic Stake Reportedly Reaches $5 Billion as AI Startup Eyes IPO, Bloomberg Reports
• Neutral Sentiment: TitanX expanded its Salesforce integration with automated phone intent scoring and contact enrichment, which is incremental ecosystem news but not likely to move CRM shares by itself. TitanX Expands Salesforce and HubSpot Integrations with Automated Phone Intent™ Scoring and Contact Enrichment
• Negative Sentiment: Several recent articles note that Salesforce stock is still sliding, near a 52-week low, and that investors remain skeptical despite AI growth, reflecting ongoing valuation and execution concerns. Our Salesforce Stock Pick Has Flopped. We’re Moving On.
• Negative Sentiment: Broader cloud-stock weakness, highlighted by Oracle’s sharp decline after earnings, is adding sector pressure that can weigh on Salesforce even when company-specific news is positive. Oracle Plunges 10% After Earnings, Salesforce Slips Near 52-Week Lows as Cloud Stocks Slide

Salesforce Price Performance

CRM stock opened at $166.81 on Friday. Salesforce Inc. has a one year low of $163.31 and a one year high of $276.80. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $180.50 and its 200-day moving average price is $207.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79. The company has a market capitalization of $136.61 billion, a PE ratio of 19.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.16.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $3.13 by $0.75. The firm had revenue of $11.13 billion for 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 business’s revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.58 earnings per share. 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, equities analysts anticipate that Salesforce Inc. will post 10.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback 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 purchase up to 14.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Transactions at Salesforce

In other news, Director David Blair Kirk bought 2,570 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $194.62 per share, for a total transaction of $500,173.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 13,689 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,664,153.18. This represents a 23.11% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Laura Alber bought 2,571 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 9,530 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,854,347.40. This represents a 36.94% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. 3.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CRM has been the topic of several analyst reports. UBS Group reiterated a “market outperform” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. DA Davidson lowered their target price on Salesforce from $200.00 to $175.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. Barclays lowered their target price on Salesforce from $252.00 to $236.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered 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. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $281.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, February 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have issued a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Salesforce currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $259.26.

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.