Salesforce Inc. $CRM Shares Sold by Securian Asset Management Inc.

Securian Asset Management Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 43.9% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 25,887 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 20,282 shares during the period. Securian Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $6,858,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Marquette Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. Board of the Pension Protection Fund purchased a new stake in Salesforce during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Key Capital Management INC acquired a new position in Salesforce during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Legacy Bridge LLC acquired a new position in Salesforce during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Finally, Texas Capital Bancshares Inc TX acquired a new position in Salesforce during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $28,000. 80.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Salesforce

In other news, Director Laura Alber bought 2,571 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 19th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $194.58 per share, with a total value of $500,265.18. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 9,530 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,854,347.40. This trade represents a 36.94% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director David Blair Kirk bought 2,570 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $2,664,153.18. This represents a 23.11% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. 3.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Salesforce Stock Performance

CRM opened at $181.67 on Monday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $186.78 and its 200-day moving average is $218.91. The stock has a market cap of $148.65 billion, a PE ratio of 23.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. Salesforce Inc. has a twelve month low of $163.52 and a twelve month high of $296.05.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.05 by $0.76. The company had revenue of $11.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.18 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 15.38% and a net margin of 17.96%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.78 earnings per share. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 13.110-13.190 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 3.110-3.130 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Salesforce Inc. will post 9.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Monday, March 16th that permits the company to buyback $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the CRM provider to repurchase up to 14.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The company 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 9th. This is a positive change from Salesforce’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is presently 22.54%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on CRM shares. DA Davidson lowered their price target on Salesforce from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 27th. Wolfe Research reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, January 15th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on Salesforce from $250.00 to $215.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Salesforce from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, April 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $279.18.

Key Stories Impacting Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce launched Agentforce Operations, a new tool designed to automate complex enterprise workflows, and rising adoption of its Agentforce AI platform is helping reinforce the company’s AI growth story. Salesforce AI Shift Agentforce Operations Links Product Adoption To Valuation
• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce is also bringing Agentforce Sales to ChatGPT, which could expand the reach of its AI-driven CRM tools and support adoption with enterprise customers.
• Positive Sentiment: A new revenue reporting structure beginning in FY27 is intended to align disclosures more closely with Salesforce’s AI-led strategy, potentially making it easier for investors to track how AI products are contributing to growth. Salesforce Inc’s (CRM) New Reporting Structure To Give Better Insights Into AI Driven Growth
• Positive Sentiment: Third-party coverage continues to frame CRM as an AI and big-data beneficiary, with analysts highlighting Salesforce as a play on surging analytics demand and enterprise AI adoption. Top Big Data Stocks Powering the AI Boom as Analytics Demand Surges
• Neutral Sentiment: Several articles compare Salesforce with HubSpot and discuss its competitive position in CRM, but these pieces are more strategic than immediately market-moving.
• Negative Sentiment: Recent coverage also raises a leadership succession question around Marc Benioff, which could create some overhang if investors become more focused on long-term governance and continuity risk. Beyond Benioff: Is Salesforce Ready for Life Without Its Founder?
• Negative Sentiment: Salesforce has also been reported as falling in recent trading, suggesting investors may still be cautious despite the company’s AI initiatives.

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.