Salesforce Inc. $CRM Shares Purchased by Czech National Bank

Czech National Bank raised its stake in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 3.4% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 251,028 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,224 shares during the quarter. Czech National Bank’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $66,500,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Aspire Growth Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Salesforce by 1.2% during the third quarter. Aspire Growth Partners LLC now owns 3,355 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $795,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. Abacus Planning Group Inc. grew its position in Salesforce by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. Abacus Planning Group Inc. now owns 1,420 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $337,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Code Waechter LLC grew its position in Salesforce by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter. Code Waechter LLC now owns 871 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $209,000 after buying an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Capital A Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Salesforce by 40.9% in the 2nd quarter. Capital A Wealth Management LLC now owns 155 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 45 shares during the period. Finally, ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. raised its position in Salesforce by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 961 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $228,000 after buying an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Salesforce Stock Down 0.7%

Shares of NYSE CRM opened at $181.69 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $167.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.29. Salesforce Inc. has a 52 week low of $174.57 and a 52 week high of $296.05. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $200.32 and a 200 day moving average price of $231.70. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last issued its earnings results 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 net margin of 17.96% and a return on equity of 15.38%. The company had revenue of $11.20 billion for 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 firm’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. Equities research analysts anticipate 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. Investors of record on Thursday, April 9th will be issued a $0.44 dividend. The ex-dividend date is 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 payout ratio is currently 21.25%.

Salesforce declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Monday, March 16th that allows the company to buyback $25.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the CRM provider to repurchase up to 14.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently weighed in on CRM shares. Mizuho lowered their target price on shares of Salesforce from $280.00 to $265.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Salesforce from $398.00 to $287.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Macquarie Infrastructure raised their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. Northland Securities lowered their price objective on Salesforce from $267.00 to $229.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 10th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on Salesforce from $340.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have issued a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $280.21.

Salesforce News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: A large customer rollout: Adecco is deploying Salesforce’s Agentforce 360 and Agentforce Voice across global recruiting operations, a commercial validation of Salesforce’s AI products that supports future ARR growth and upsell potential. Adecco’s Agentforce Rollout Puts Salesforce’s AI Story To The Test
• Positive Sentiment: Product expansion: Salesforce has integrated Agentforce for Small Business into its Suites, broadening the go-to-market footprint for its AI agent products and creating more cross-sell opportunities to smaller customers. Agentforce for Small Business is Now Built Into Salesforce Suites
• Positive Sentiment: Share-buyback support: Reports say Salesforce expanded buybacks after recent share weakness, a shareholder-friendly move that can support EPS and signal management confidence. These 3 Beaten-Down Stocks Just Announced Massive Share Buybacks
• Neutral Sentiment: Acquisition integration: Salesforce granted equity awards to Apromore hires under its inducement plan — routine for M&A hires and neutral for near-term cash flow but useful for integration. Salesforce Grants Equity Awards to Apromore Under Its Inducement Equity Incentive Plan
• Neutral Sentiment: Compensation changes: An internal memo says Salesforce will skip base raises for director-level and above but increase stock/bonus pools for top performers — a cost-managing move that prioritizes variable pay and may help margins but could affect morale. Salesforce isn’t giving raises to director-level and above employees this year, internal memo shows
• Negative Sentiment: AI competition fear: Shares fell after Anthropic unveiled Claude’s ability to control computers (imitate keystrokes/mouse), reviving investor concerns that more capable AI assistants could erode incumbent software moats. Why Salesforce (CRM) Shares Are Getting Obliterated Today
• Negative Sentiment: Revenue miss headlines: Coverage highlighted Salesforce’s first revenue shortfall in years, which amplified the selloff and raised near-term growth concerns despite previous quarterly beats and FY guidance. Salesforce (CRM) Tumbles 6% Following First Revenue Shortfall in Nearly Two Decades
• Negative Sentiment: Sector-wide AI jitters: Broader software selloff (including ServiceNow) on renewed AI disruption fears pressured CRM shares as investors reprice risk across enterprise software. Salesforce and Other Software Stocks Are Plummeting as AI Jitters Return

Insider Activity at Salesforce

In other news, Director David Blair Kirk bought 2,570 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were bought at an average price of $194.62 per share, with a total value of $500,173.40. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 13,689 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,664,153.18. This trade represents a 23.11% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Neelie Kroes sold 3,893 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $238.70, for a total value of $929,259.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 7,299 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,742,271.30. This represents a 34.78% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 3.00% of the stock is currently 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.