Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund Raises Holdings in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund raised its stake in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 65.2% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 321,579 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 126,924 shares during the quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $60,029,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC bought a new stake in Salesforce during the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Board of the Pension Protection Fund bought a new position in shares of Salesforce during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Key Capital Management INC purchased a new stake in Salesforce during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Gilpin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Salesforce during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Finally, Legacy Bridge LLC acquired a new stake in Salesforce in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CRM has been the topic of several analyst reports. B. Riley Financial lifted their price target on shares of Salesforce from $205.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 28th. HSBC raised their price objective on Salesforce from $350.00 to $356.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $250.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. Bank of America initiated coverage on Salesforce in a research note on Monday, May 18th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $160.00 price target for the company. Finally, Phillip Securities downgraded Salesforce from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $253.00 to $166.00 in a report on Monday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have issued a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $254.42.

Salesforce News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Guggenheim upgraded Salesforce to Buy and argued the stock’s recent weakness offers a better buying opportunity, helping fuel a rebound in CRM shares. Salesforce Will Face AI Disruption but Stock Still Gets an Upgrade to Buy
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts highlighted Salesforce’s Data 360 momentum, AI-driven recurring revenue growth, and potential Informatica synergies as reasons fiscal 2027 revenue growth could improve. Can Salesforce’s Data 360 Momentum Drive Stronger FY27 Growth?
• Positive Sentiment: Citizens reiterated a Market Outperform rating after Salesforce’s Fin acquisition and Agentforce expansion, reinforcing the bullish AI/productivity narrative. Citizens Reiterates Market Outperform Rating on Salesforce (CRM) Following Fin Acquisition and Agentforce Expansion
• Neutral Sentiment: Several articles noted that Salesforce remains a popular analyst consensus pick, with a “Moderate Buy” view broadly still in place. Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts
• Negative Sentiment: Despite the upgrade-driven bounce, Salesforce has still been hit by heavy recent selling, with coverage noting it fell more than 10% over the past month and lost over 25% in June, underscoring investor concern about the pace of growth. Salesforce (CRM) Down More Than 10% Over the Past Month, Here’s What You Need to Know
• Negative Sentiment: Some commentary suggested AI expectations may be getting ahead of fundamentals, with analysts debating whether Salesforce’s valuation still fully reflects slower near-term growth. Salesforce (CRM) Stock Sees Modest Fair Value Cut As Analysts Debate AI Growth

Salesforce Stock Up 1.7%

Salesforce stock opened at $165.94 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $135.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.18. Salesforce Inc. has a 52 week low of $146.32 and a 52 week high of $276.80. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $173.71 and its 200 day moving average price is $197.94. 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 27th. The CRM provider reported $3.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.13 by $0.75. Salesforce had a return on equity of 18.72% and a net margin of 18.73%.The company had revenue of $11.13 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.05 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.58 earnings per share. Salesforce’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 14.060-14.120 EPS and its Q2 2027 guidance at 3.250-3.270 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Salesforce Inc. will post 10.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Investors of record on Thursday, June 11th were paid a $0.44 dividend. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, June 11th. Salesforce’s payout ratio is currently 20.37%.

Salesforce declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program 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 programs are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.