Salesforce Inc. $CRM Shares Bought by Harvest Portfolios Group Inc.

Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 19.6% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 102,081 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after buying an additional 16,740 shares during the quarter. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc.’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $24,193,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Salesforce by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 89,572,253 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $21,228,624,000 after acquiring an additional 748,772 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in Salesforce by 1.6% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 49,260,918 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $13,452,998,000 after purchasing an additional 776,300 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Salesforce by 0.6% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 20,873,900 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $5,669,224,000 after buying an additional 114,504 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Salesforce during the second quarter valued at approximately $2,826,049,000. Finally, Amundi lifted its holdings in Salesforce by 26.2% during the 2nd quarter. Amundi now owns 7,755,317 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $2,087,545,000 after buying an additional 1,612,413 shares during the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Trending Headlines about Salesforce

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 Stock Down 2.5%

CRM stock opened at $194.47 on Friday. The stock 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 firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $223.98 and its 200 day simple moving average is $238.32. Salesforce Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $174.57 and a fifty-two week high of $303.07. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.05 by $0.76. The firm had revenue of $11.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.18 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 17.96% and a return on equity of 15.28%. Salesforce’s quarterly revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.78 EPS. 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 predict 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. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.44 per share. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 9th. This is an increase from Salesforce’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.25%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on Salesforce from $375.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $400.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday. Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of Salesforce from $325.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 17th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on shares of Salesforce from $300.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Finally, Wolfe Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have issued a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $283.06.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Parker Harris sold 134,662 shares of the 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 transaction, the insider owned 139,767 shares in the company, valued at $32,803,314.90. This represents a 49.07% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director G Mason Morfit purchased 96,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 5th. The shares were bought at an average price of $260.58 per share, for a total transaction of $25,015,680.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 2,994,509 shares in the company, valued at $780,309,155.22. This represents a 3.31% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase 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.