Salesforce Inc. $CRM Shares Purchased by Handelsbanken Fonder AB

Handelsbanken Fonder AB boosted its position in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 0.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 360,207 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,194 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $95,422,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CRM. Aspire Growth Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Salesforce by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Aspire Growth Partners LLC now owns 3,355 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $795,000 after acquiring an additional 39 shares during the period. Byrne Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Salesforce by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC now owns 4,331 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,147,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares during the period. Mathes Company Inc. lifted its position in shares of Salesforce by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Mathes Company Inc. now owns 12,558 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,976,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the period. Fred Alger Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Salesforce by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 14,943 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $3,548,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the period. Finally, Beacon Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Salesforce by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,372 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $325,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Trading Up 3.4%

Shares of CRM opened at $179.39 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $183.73 and a 200-day simple moving average of $214.85. Salesforce Inc. has a 1-year low of $163.52 and a 1-year high of $289.90. The stock has a market cap of $146.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.14.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 15.38%. The business had revenue of $11.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.18 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.78 EPS. 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. Equities analysts forecast that Salesforce Inc. will post 9.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 9th were issued a dividend of $0.44 per share. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 9th. This is a positive change from Salesforce’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.54%.

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 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the CRM provider to reacquire 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.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Mizuho reduced their price target on shares of Salesforce from $280.00 to $265.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Salesforce from $235.00 to $210.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Northland Securities reduced their price target on shares of Salesforce from $267.00 to $229.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 10th. Oppenheimer reduced their price target on shares of Salesforce from $275.00 to $250.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price target on shares of Salesforce from $290.00 to $210.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $274.56.

Key Stories Impacting Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Negative Sentiment: Bank of America initiated coverage on Salesforce with an Underperform rating and a $160 price target, implying downside from current levels. The call raised concerns that the company’s AI narrative may be losing momentum and appears to be the most stock-moving headline for CRM today. Benzinga report on Bank of America coverage
• Negative Sentiment: Another market note highlighted Salesforce among software laggards that have been hit by broad sector selling, reinforcing the idea that investors remain cautious on the stock despite AI-related growth potential. Zacks commentary
• Neutral Sentiment: A separate analysis argued that Salesforce may still be attractive versus Oracle because of its steadier growth profile and cheaper valuation, offering a counterpoint to the bearish broker view. Zacks comparison article
• Neutral Sentiment: Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff also continued promoting the company’s AI efforts, saying Slack AI can surface employee concerns and decisions, which supports the long-term AI story but is not an immediate catalyst. Business Insider article
• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce also received a bullish longer-term mention as one of several AI-powered software laggards that could offer short-term upside, suggesting some investors still see value after the selloff. Zacks AI-powered laggards article

Insider Buying and Selling at Salesforce

In other Salesforce news, Director Laura Alber bought 2,571 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 19th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $194.58 per share, for a total transaction of $500,265.18. Following the acquisition, the director owned 9,530 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,854,347.40. The trade was a 36.94% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director David Blair Kirk bought 2,570 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $194.62 per share, for a total transaction of $500,173.40. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 13,689 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,664,153.18. This represents a 23.11% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders own 3.50% of the company’s stock.

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.