Parnassus Investments LLC Has $681.12 Million Stock Holdings in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Parnassus Investments LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 30.1% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 2,571,143 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 1,106,930 shares during the period. Salesforce makes up approximately 1.8% of Parnassus Investments LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 24th largest holding. Parnassus Investments LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $681,121,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd lifted its position in Salesforce by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 746,453 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $197,743,000 after acquiring an additional 27,229 shares during the last quarter. Keel Point LLC lifted its position in Salesforce by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Keel Point LLC now owns 6,560 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,738,000 after acquiring an additional 208 shares during the last quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd lifted its position in Salesforce by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 190,285 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $50,408,000 after acquiring an additional 601 shares during the last quarter. Coastwise Capital Group LLC lifted its position in Salesforce by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Coastwise Capital Group LLC now owns 5,533 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,466,000 after acquiring an additional 107 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SmartHarvest Portfolios LLC acquired a new stake in Salesforce during the fourth quarter worth approximately $858,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Salesforce news, Director Laura Alber purchased 2,571 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 19th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $194.58 per share, for a total transaction of $500,265.18. Following the completion of the transaction, 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. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director David Blair Kirk purchased 2,570 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the director owned 13,689 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,664,153.18. This represents a 23.11% 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 Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $252.00 to $236.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. Oppenheimer cut their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $275.00 to $250.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $400.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Finally, UBS Group restated a “market outperform” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have assigned a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $259.26.

Salesforce Stock Down 2.4%

NYSE CRM opened at $166.81 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. Salesforce Inc. has a 1-year low of $163.31 and a 1-year high of $276.80. The company has a 50 day moving average of $180.50 and a 200-day moving average of $207.18. The company has a market cap of $136.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.31, a PEG ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.16.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 27th. The CRM provider reported $3.88 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.13 by $0.75. Salesforce had a net margin of 18.73% and a return on equity of 18.72%. The company had revenue of $11.13 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.05 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.58 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. 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 research analysts expect that Salesforce Inc. will post 10.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Stockholders 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 presently 20.37%.

Trending Headlines about 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 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.