Cardano Risk Management B.V. Increases Stock Position in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Key Points

• Cardano Risk Management B.V. sharply increased its Salesforce stake by 924.7% in the fourth quarter, ending with 3.88 million shares worth about $1.03 billion.
• Salesforce reported a strong quarter, with $3.88 EPS on $11.13 billion in revenue, both above expectations, while revenue rose 13.3% year over year.
• The company also approved a $25 billion share buyback and announced a quarterly dividend of $0.44 per share, signaling confidence in its valuation and cash flow.

Cardano Risk Management B.V. lifted its holdings in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 924.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,883,610 shares of the CRM provider's stock after buying an additional 3,504,605 shares during the quarter. Salesforce comprises 1.1% of Cardano Risk Management B.V.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th biggest position. Cardano Risk Management B.V. owned about 0.41% of Salesforce worth $1,028,807,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of CRM. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Salesforce in the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,182,951,000. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in Salesforce by 159.0% in the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 17,325,206 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $4,106,255,000 after purchasing an additional 10,636,161 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in Salesforce by 13.3% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 22,721,010 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $6,019,199,000 after purchasing an additional 2,669,891 shares in the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Salesforce in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $484,852,000. Finally, Alyeska Investment Group L.P. lifted its stake in Salesforce by 285.4% in the 3rd quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 2,487,627 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $589,568,000 after purchasing an additional 1,842,117 shares in the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Salesforce Stock Performance

Salesforce stock opened at $166.07 on Friday. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $180.10 and its 200-day moving average price is $206.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79. The stock has a market cap of $136.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 1.16. Salesforce Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $161.40 and a fifty-two week high of $276.80.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 27th. The CRM provider reported $3.88 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.13 by $0.75. The firm had revenue of $11.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $11.05 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 18.73% and a return on equity of 18.72%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.58 EPS. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 14.060-14.120 EPS and its Q2 2027 guidance at 3.250-3.270 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Salesforce Inc. will post 10.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce declared that its board has approved 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 shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often an indication that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 11th will be given a dividend of $0.44 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 11th. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.1%. Salesforce's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.37%.

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 bought at an average price of $194.58 per share, with a total value of $500,265.18. Following the acquisition, the director 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 at the SEC website. 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 cost of $194.62 per share, for a total transaction of $500,173.40. Following the acquisition, the director owned 13,689 shares in the company, valued at $2,664,153.18. The trade was a 23.11% increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Company insiders own 3.50% of the company's stock.

More Salesforce News

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce’s latest quarter was strong, with revenue of $11.13 billion, EPS of $3.88, and AI/data ARR rising to $3.4 billion; Agentforce alone reached $1.2 billion in ARR, reinforcing the company’s AI growth story and supporting the bullish case. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Erste Group Bank raised its earnings expectations for Salesforce, estimating FY2027 EPS at $10.17 and FY2028 EPS at $11.07, which suggests confidence in longer-term profitability. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce is getting renewed attention from market watchers, and several articles highlight that its AI pivot and low valuation could attract investors if execution continues to improve. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Salesforce is also being discussed in the context of broader software-sector weakness, with investors favoring AI infrastructure and chip names over traditional subscription software. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Salesforce announced another round of layoffs tied to its AI and Marketing Cloud teams, signaling restructuring pressure as it shifts toward AI-focused and usage-based monetization models. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Several reports note that CRM shares are near 52-week lows as investors worry the market is rotating away from legacy software names, keeping pressure on the stock despite solid fundamentals. Article Title

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Salesforce from a "sell (d+)" rating to a "hold (c-)" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Salesforce from $365.00 to $320.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Daiwa Securities Group lowered their target price on shares of Salesforce from $295.00 to $280.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Monday, May 18th. They issued an "underperform" rating and a $160.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Citizens Jmp reiterated a "market outperform" rating and issued a $315.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have issued a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $259.26.

Salesforce 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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