Allianz SE Sells 3,704 Shares of Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Allianz SE lessened its holdings in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 6.9% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 49,851 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 3,704 shares during the quarter. Allianz SE’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $11,815,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in CRM. Marquette Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Salesforce in the third quarter worth about $26,000. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Spurstone Advisory Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $34,000. Country Trust Bank lifted its stake in Salesforce by 658.8% in the second quarter. Country Trust Bank now owns 129 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 112 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Decker Retirement Planning Inc. grew its holdings in Salesforce by 284.6% during the second quarter. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. now owns 150 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares during the period. 80.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Salesforce from $365.00 to $320.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on shares of Salesforce from $235.00 to $225.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Arete Research upgraded shares of Salesforce to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. UBS Group cut their price target on Salesforce from $260.00 to $200.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Finally, Citizens Jmp reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $430.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Tuesday, December 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $283.06.

Salesforce News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q4 beat on profitability and AI traction — Non‑GAAP EPS came in at $3.81 (well above consensus) and management highlighted Agentforce/AI monetization as a growth driver, supporting the view that AI is adding commercial value. Revenue In Line With Expectations
• Positive Sentiment: Big capital‑return program — Salesforce raised its dividend and authorized a $50B buyback, signaling management confidence and improving EPS leverage if executed. That buyback is a clear near‑term support for the share price. AI Bet & Buyback
• Neutral Sentiment: Long‑term targets updated — Management lifted multiyear ambitions (targeting roughly $63B revenue by FY2030) and kept FY27 EPS guidance in a tight range; this supports the long‑term bull case but leaves near‑term pacing ambiguous. FY30 Target & Guidance
• Negative Sentiment: Near‑term guidance and metrics disappointed some — cRPO and other cloud momentum measures were only in‑line, and commentary implied a mid‑year slowdown before AI‑driven reacceleration, which hurt investor confidence. Jefferies on Near‑Term Slowdown
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst cuts and mixed ratings — Several banks trimmed price targets (examples: Sanford Bernstein, TD Cowen, RBC, BMO, Barclays, DA Davidson) or issued neutral/underperform stances, increasing short‑term selling pressure as models were reset. Analyst Revisions
• Negative Sentiment: Investor skepticism over AI impact persists — Coverage highlights that some investors still worry AI could compress SaaS economics despite management’s assurances, creating continued volatility in CRM shares. 3 Reasons Earnings Failed to Impress

Salesforce Trading Down 2.5%

Shares of NYSE:CRM opened at $194.47 on Friday. Salesforce Inc. has a 12-month low of $174.57 and a 12-month high of $303.07. The company has a market cap of $182.22 billion, a PE ratio of 24.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.27. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $223.98 and a 200 day moving average of $238.32. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.05 by $0.76. Salesforce had a net margin of 17.96% and a return on equity of 15.28%. The business had revenue of $11.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.18 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.78 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. 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, equities research analysts expect that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 9th will be given a dividend of $0.44 per share. This is an increase from Salesforce’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 9th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 21.25%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Salesforce news, Director G Mason Morfit purchased 96,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 5th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $260.58 per share, with a total value of $25,015,680.00. Following the acquisition, the director owned 2,994,509 shares in the company, valued at approximately $780,309,155.22. This trade represents a 3.31% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Parker Harris sold 134,662 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $234.70, for a total transaction of $31,605,171.40. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 139,767 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,803,314.90. This trade represents a 49.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 3.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.