Banco Santander S.A. Increases Stock Position in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Banco Santander S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 25.0% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 283,849 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 56,696 shares during the quarter. Salesforce accounts for about 0.6% of Banco Santander S.A.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest holding. Banco Santander S.A.’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $75,194,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of CRM. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $3,182,951,000. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 159.0% during the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 17,325,206 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $4,106,255,000 after buying an additional 10,636,161 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 13.3% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 22,721,010 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $6,019,199,000 after buying an additional 2,669,891 shares in the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $484,852,000. Finally, Alyeska Investment Group L.P. lifted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 285.4% during the 3rd quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 2,487,627 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $589,568,000 after buying an additional 1,842,117 shares in the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CRM has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Canaccord Genuity Group dropped their price target on shares of Salesforce from $250.00 to $225.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $281.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Salesforce from $398.00 to $287.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. Citizens Jmp reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $315.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, June 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have given a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $259.26.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Laura Alber purchased 2,571 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 19th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $194.58 per share, with a total value of $500,265.18. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 9,530 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,854,347.40. The trade was a 36.94% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director David Blair Kirk purchased 2,570 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $194.62 per share, for a total transaction of $500,173.40. Following the acquisition, the director owned 13,689 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,664,153.18. The trade was a 23.11% increase in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. 3.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Salesforce Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CRM opened at $166.07 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $136.01 billion, a PE ratio of 19.22, a PEG ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 1.16. The company’s fifty day moving average is $180.10 and its 200 day moving average is $206.89. Salesforce Inc. has a 52 week low of $161.40 and a 52 week high of $276.80. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 27th. The CRM provider reported $3.88 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.13 by $0.75. The company had revenue of $11.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.05 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 18.73% and a return on equity of 18.72%. The firm’s revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.58 EPS. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 14.060-14.120 EPS and its Q2 2027 guidance at 3.250-3.270 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Salesforce Inc. will post 10.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

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

Salesforce announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Monday, March 16th that permits the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the CRM provider to buy up to 14.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Salesforce News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce’s latest quarter was strong, with revenue of $11.13 billion, EPS of $3.88, and AI/data ARR rising to $3.4 billion; Agentforce alone reached $1.2 billion in ARR, reinforcing the company’s AI growth story and supporting the bullish case. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Erste Group Bank raised its earnings expectations for Salesforce, estimating FY2027 EPS at $10.17 and FY2028 EPS at $11.07, which suggests confidence in longer-term profitability. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce is getting renewed attention from market watchers, and several articles highlight that its AI pivot and low valuation could attract investors if execution continues to improve. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Salesforce is also being discussed in the context of broader software-sector weakness, with investors favoring AI infrastructure and chip names over traditional subscription software. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Salesforce announced another round of layoffs tied to its AI and Marketing Cloud teams, signaling restructuring pressure as it shifts toward AI-focused and usage-based monetization models. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Several reports note that CRM shares are near 52-week lows as investors worry the market is rotating away from legacy software names, keeping pressure on the stock despite solid fundamentals. Article Title

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.