Employees Retirement System of Texas Purchases 22,758 Shares of Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Employees Retirement System of Texas increased its position in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 139.5% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 39,073 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 22,758 shares during the period. Employees Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in Salesforce were worth $9,260,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Aspire Growth Partners LLC raised its stake 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 in the last quarter. Abacus Planning Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Salesforce by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. Abacus Planning Group Inc. now owns 1,420 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $337,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. 17 Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in Salesforce by 1.9% in the second quarter. 17 Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,321 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $633,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares during the period. Code Waechter LLC raised its position in Salesforce by 5.3% in the third quarter. Code Waechter LLC now owns 871 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $209,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital A Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Salesforce by 40.9% in the second quarter. Capital A Wealth Management LLC now owns 155 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on CRM shares. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, December 4th. Barclays cut their target price on Salesforce from $265.00 to $252.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Macquarie Infrastructure boosted their price target on Salesforce from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. Oppenheimer lowered their price target on Salesforce from $275.00 to $250.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their price objective on Salesforce from $223.00 to $194.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $282.06.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Neelie Kroes sold 3,893 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the director owned 7,299 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,742,271.30. This trade represents a 34.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director David Blair Kirk acquired 1,936 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 17th. The stock was bought at an average price of $258.64 per share, with a total value of $500,727.04. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 10,677 shares in the company, valued at $2,761,499.28. The trade was a 22.15% increase in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Company insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Trading Up 2.3%

Shares of CRM opened at $198.68 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.76. The company has a market cap of $183.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.44, a PEG ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.29. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $211.70 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $235.53. Salesforce Inc. has a 52-week low of $174.57 and a 52-week high of $296.05.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced 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. Salesforce had a return on equity of 15.38% and a net margin of 17.96%.The company had revenue of $11.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.18 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.78 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter 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. Analysts predict that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 9th will be given a $0.44 dividend. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 9th. This is a boost from Salesforce’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is 21.25%.

Key Salesforce News

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Strong recent fundamentals and AI momentum bolster investor confidence—analysts and coverage pieces note Salesforce’s robust fiscal 2026 results and rising AI-driven demand that supported recent gains. CRM Stock Up More Than 5% in a Month: Should You Buy, Sell or Hold?
• Positive Sentiment: Product/GTMS initiatives: Salesforce is pushing contact-center modernization with Agentforce, which could drive upsells in Service Cloud and contact-center spend. Salesforce Aims to End the ‘Frankenstein’ Contact Center With Agentforce
• Positive Sentiment: Partner and integration momentum—third-party vendors (e.g., LivePerson, Cloudsquare integrations) are emphasizing Salesforce as the CRM backbone, which supports platform stickiness and ecosystem revenue. LivePerson Announces Event-driven Orchestration Partnership with Coral Active
• Positive Sentiment: Management outreach to investors: recent presentations at Morgan Stanley highlighted record fiscal 2026 performance and strategic priorities for 2027, helping sentiment. Salesforce (CRM) Presents at Morgan Stanley’s Conference, Here’s What You Need to Know
• Neutral Sentiment: Capital markets execution: Salesforce priced an underwritten offering of senior notes (aggregate $25B) with proceeds earmarked for buybacks—a definitive move but execution/terms will determine impact. Salesforce Prices Public Offering of Senior Notes
• Neutral Sentiment: Longer-term context pieces and competitor comparisons (Oracle, ServiceNow) highlight that Salesforce remains a cloud/AI market leader, but growth comparisons show mixed near-term organic trends. What If You Had Invested $1,000 in Oracle or Salesforce 10 Years Ago?
• Negative Sentiment: Tepid demand and higher yields on the $25B bond package have surfaced—reports show investor hesitation and higher required yields, signalling market concern about the leverage and pricing of debt-funded buybacks. Salesforce Sees Tepid Demand for Bond Sale to Fund Share Buyback
• Negative Sentiment: Credit and analyst pressure: rating agencies reacted to the buyback/debt move and some brokers issued downgrades or pessimistic forecasts—this increases financing costs and adds near-term downside risk. Salesforce Weighs Debt Funded Buybacks And Partner Cloud Against Valuation
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst downgrade and bearish notes have pressured sentiment, with some reports calling for lower near-term price targets. Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Stock Price Down 2% on Analyst Downgrade

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.