DNB Asset Management AS Purchases 899,369 Shares of Salesforce Inc. $CRM

DNB Asset Management AS increased its position in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 118.5% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 1,658,085 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after buying an additional 899,369 shares during the quarter. Salesforce accounts for about 1.5% of DNB Asset Management AS’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest holding. DNB Asset Management AS’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $392,966,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of CRM. Aspire Growth Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Aspire Growth Partners LLC now owns 3,355 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $795,000 after buying an additional 39 shares during the period. Lifeworks Advisors LLC grew its stake in Salesforce by 2.9% in the second quarter. Lifeworks Advisors LLC now owns 1,420 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $387,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the period. Benchmark Financial Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 4.4% in the second quarter. Benchmark Financial Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 989 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $270,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. Abacus Planning Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Salesforce by 3.1% during the third quarter. Abacus Planning Group Inc. now owns 1,420 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $337,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the period. Finally, 17 Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter. 17 Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,321 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $633,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Parker Harris sold 134,662 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $234.70, for a total value of $31,605,171.40. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 139,767 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,803,314.90. This trade represents a 49.07% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director David Blair Kirk purchased 1,936 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 17th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $258.64 per share, with a total value of $500,727.04. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 10,677 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,761,499.28. This trade represents a 22.15% increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. 3.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently issued reports on CRM shares. Macquarie Infrastructure increased their target price on Salesforce from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. Canaccord Genuity Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $300.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, December 4th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on shares of Salesforce from $300.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on Salesforce from $375.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have given a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Salesforce currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $284.06.

Key Stories Impacting Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q4 results showed a big non‑GAAP EPS beat and double‑digit revenue growth, with Agentforce cited as a key growth driver — the earnings strength is the main bullish catalyst. Salesforce Crushed Earnings by 25% and Still Can’t Get Any Respect
• Positive Sentiment: Management authorized a $50 billion buyback, raised FY30 revenue ambition to ~$63B and increased the quarterly dividend — these capital‑return moves support EPS per‑share upside and signal confidence from the board. Salesforce targets $63B revenue by FY30 while expanding Agentforce and $50B buyback
• Positive Sentiment: Some brokers (e.g., Wedbush) reiterated bullish views and called CRM a long‑term AI winner, supporting a recovery narrative despite the recent sell‑off. Salesforce Stock Climbs After Earnings. Wedbush Calls It ‘Long-Term Winner’ of the AI Boom
• Neutral Sentiment: Wall Street reacted with many price‑target resets — several firms trimmed targets but maintained Buy/Overweight ratings, leaving consensus upside but also a wider target dispersion to watch. Salesforce’s AI Bet Is Paying Off—the Buyback Proves It
• Negative Sentiment: Revenue outlook/near‑term guidance was viewed as soft by some investors — the quarter’s guidance cadence (mid‑year weakness) pressured shares in after‑hours trading. Salesforce tops Q4 estimates but softer revenue guidance pressures shares
• Negative Sentiment: Analysts flagged mixed cloud momentum and cautioned on a near‑term growth slowdown even as AI adoption builds — raises the risk of cyclical softness before the AI inflection fully materializes. Salesforce faces near-term growth slowdown as AI inflection builds, Jefferies says
• Negative Sentiment: Several firms cut price targets (examples include Sanford Bernstein’s move to Underperform and multiple downward adjustments across banks), which can cap near‑term upside until guidance clarity improves. Analyst price target updates

Salesforce Price Performance

NYSE:CRM opened at $199.38 on Friday. Salesforce Inc. has a 52-week low of $174.57 and a 52-week high of $304.92. The company has a market cap of $186.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.53, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.98. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $225.28 and its 200 day simple moving average is $238.59.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.05 by $0.76. Salesforce had a return on equity of 15.28% and a net margin of 17.96%.The firm 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 posted $2.78 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue 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. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 9th will be given a dividend of $0.44 per share. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. This is an increase from Salesforce’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 9th. Salesforce’s payout ratio is currently 22.16%.

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.