BOCHK Asset Management Ltd Takes Position in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Key Points

• BOCHK Asset Management Ltd bought a new position of 5,480 Salesforce shares in Q4 worth about $1.45 million, equal to roughly 0.4% of its holdings and its 24th largest position.
• Salesforce beat Q4 estimates, reporting $3.81 EPS vs. $3.05 consensus and $11.20B in revenue (+12.1% YoY), and set FY2027 guidance of $13.11–$13.19 EPS with Q1 guidance of $3.11–$3.13.
• Shareholder returns accelerated: management authorized a $25.0 billion buyback (up to ~14.1% of shares) and raised the quarterly dividend to $0.44 ($1.76 annualized, ~1.0% yield).

BOCHK Asset Management Ltd bought a new position in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 5,480 shares of the CRM provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,452,000. Salesforce accounts for approximately 0.4% of BOCHK Asset Management Ltd's holdings, making the stock its 24th biggest position.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 0.8% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 89,572,253 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $21,228,624,000 after buying an additional 748,772 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 0.3% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 49,420,657 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $11,732,966,000 after buying an additional 159,739 shares during the period. Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 9.4% in the third quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 20,051,119 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $4,753,519,000 after buying an additional 1,729,440 shares during the period. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 159.0% in the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 17,325,206 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $4,106,255,000 after buying an additional 10,636,161 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 11.8% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 7,155,512 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $1,695,856,000 after buying an additional 754,116 shares during the period. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Salesforce Stock Performance

CRM stock opened at $170.82 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 stock has a market cap of $157.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.87, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.29. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $190.85 and a 200 day simple moving average of $227.04. Salesforce Inc. has a 52 week low of $167.12 and a 52 week high of $296.05.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly 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. The business had revenue of $11.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $11.18 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 17.96% and a return on equity of 15.38%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last 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. Research analysts anticipate that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.44 per share. 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%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 9th. Salesforce's dividend payout ratio is 21.25%.

Salesforce announced that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Monday, March 16th that allows the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the CRM provider to purchase up to 14.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. Northland Securities decreased their target price on shares of Salesforce from $267.00 to $229.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 10th. Oppenheimer decreased their target price on shares of Salesforce from $275.00 to $250.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Wolfe Research reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, January 15th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Salesforce from $235.00 to $210.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, Mizuho decreased their target price on shares of Salesforce from $280.00 to $265.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 26th. One equities research 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 assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $280.21.

More Salesforce News

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analyst Dan Ives argues the recent sell-off may be overdone and that CIO feedback shows AI deployments moving from pilot to large-scale rollouts in 2026, which should benefit major enterprise software vendors over time. Microsoft, Salesforce, ServiceNow Sell-Off Is Overdone: Dan Ives
• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce is expanding ecosystem reach via a partnership to supply cloud communications infrastructure for its Agentforce Contact Center, supporting product adoption and platform stickiness. Salesforce, Inc (CRM) Partners With A Key Cloud Communications Provider
• Positive Sentiment: A Navatar offering built on Salesforce shows third-party vendors continue to choose CRM as an enterprise platform, reinforcing Salesforce’s role in vertical workflows (M&A banking use case). Navatar Unveils AI-Powered M&A CRM Operating Model for Investment Banks and Boutique Advisors
• Neutral Sentiment: Recent benchmarking pieces review Salesforce’s Q4 results and metrics; the firm beat EPS and revenue estimates and reiterated multi-year growth targets, underscoring solid fundamentals even as multiples compress. Sales Software Stocks Q4 Results: Benchmarking Salesforce NYSE: CRM
• Neutral Sentiment: Zacks highlights investor attention on CRM and summarizes factors to watch—product momentum, margins, and AI investments—useful but not immediately price-moving. Salesforce, Inc. (CRM) is Attracting Investor Attention: Here is What You Should Know
• Negative Sentiment: Investors dumped software stocks after Anthropic released a powerful new model, prompting concerns that increasingly capable AI could accelerate competition, margin pressure, or change software value chains. This sector-wide fear is weighing on CRM. Anthropic's Latest AI Model Sends a Shockwave Through Software Stocks
• Negative Sentiment: CNBC’s Jim Cramer notes a renewed rotation into hardware/infrastructure names and away from software, favoring companies that underpin AI data centers—an allocation shift that pressures software multiple compression. Cramer explains the divergence in tech stocks – and why software may continue to lag
• Negative Sentiment: A report shows Slackbot being used as a CRM interface, highlighting potential competitive/usage threats if customers choose lighter, integrated Slack workflows over traditional Salesforce modules for some use cases. Slack instead of Salesforce: Slackbot becomes CRM interface

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Salesforce news, Director Neelie Kroes sold 3,893 shares of Salesforce 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 directly owned 7,299 shares in the company, valued at $1,742,271.30. The trade was a 34.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 bought 2,570 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $194.62 per share, with a total value of $500,173.40. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly 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. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. 3.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.

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