ABN AMRO Bank N.V. Cuts Stake in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Key Points

• ABN AMRO Bank cut its Salesforce stake by 57.9% in the fourth quarter, selling 50,128 shares and ending with 36,494 shares worth about $9.64 million.
• Wall Street sentiment remains generally positive but has softened, with several firms lowering price targets; Salesforce now carries a consensus “Moderate Buy” and a $279.18 average price target.
• Salesforce reported strong quarterly results, beating EPS estimates and posting 12.1% revenue growth, while also raising its quarterly dividend and authorizing a $25 billion share buyback.

ABN AMRO Bank N.V. trimmed its position in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 57.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 36,494 shares of the CRM provider's stock after selling 50,128 shares during the quarter. ABN AMRO Bank N.V.'s holdings in Salesforce were worth $9,640,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Dynamic Wealth Strategies LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 8.9% during the 4th quarter. Dynamic Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 1,729 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $458,000 after acquiring an additional 141 shares during the last quarter. Income Insurance Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the 4th quarter valued at about $760,000. Greenwood Gearhart Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the 4th quarter valued at about $230,000. Advisor OS LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 8.0% during the 4th quarter. Advisor OS LLC now owns 2,511 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $665,000 after acquiring an additional 186 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dogwood Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 285.7% during the 4th quarter. Dogwood Wealth Management LLC now owns 108 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CRM has been the topic of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $398.00 to $287.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $300.00 to $250.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Oppenheimer dropped their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $275.00 to $250.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Salesforce from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, April 18th. Finally, Truist Financial set a $280.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, February 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $279.18.

Salesforce Price Performance

NYSE CRM opened at $181.67 on Monday. Salesforce Inc. has a 12 month low of $163.52 and a 12 month high of $296.05. The stock has a market cap of $148.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.26, a PEG ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.14. The company's 50 day moving average is $186.78 and its two-hundred day moving average is $218.91. 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 (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 EPS 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 company had revenue of $11.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $11.18 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.78 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. 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, research analysts anticipate that Salesforce Inc. will post 9.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 9th were given a dividend of $0.44 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 9th. This is an increase from Salesforce's previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. Salesforce's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 22.54%.

Salesforce announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Monday, March 16th that authorizes the company to buyback $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the CRM provider to buy up to 14.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually an indication that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at Salesforce

In related news, Director Laura Alber acquired 2,571 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 19th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $194.58 per share, for a total transaction of $500,265.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 9,530 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,854,347.40. This represents a 36.94% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director David Blair Kirk acquired 2,570 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were bought at an average price of $194.62 per share, for a total transaction of $500,173.40. Following the transaction, the director owned 13,689 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,664,153.18. The trade was a 23.11% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Company insiders own 3.00% of the company's stock.

Key Salesforce News

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.

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