Chemung Canal Trust Co. Has $2.47 Million Stock Position in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Key Points

• Chemung Canal Trust Co. increased its Salesforce stake by 513.9% in Q4 to 9,332 shares, valued at about $2.47 million.
• Salesforce’s board authorized a $25 billion accelerated share repurchase (within a $50 billion program) and raised the quarterly dividend to $0.44, signaling aggressive capital returns.
• The company beat quarterly estimates (EPS $3.81 vs. $3.05; revenue $11.20B, up 12.1%) and is rolling out its Agentforce AI to large public‑sector customers, though the stock is trading lower amid analyst price‑target cuts.

Chemung Canal Trust Co. lifted its stake in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 513.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 9,332 shares of the CRM provider's stock after purchasing an additional 7,812 shares during the quarter. Chemung Canal Trust Co.'s holdings in Salesforce were worth $2,472,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 10,636,161 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the second quarter valued at approximately $2,826,049,000. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce during the third quarter worth approximately $484,852,000. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of 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. Finally, Generation Investment Management LLP bought a new position in shares of Salesforce in the 3rd quarter worth $431,157,000. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Key Salesforce News

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Major federal win — Salesforce’s Agentforce autonomous AI agents are being rolled out in the U.S. Department of Labor’s National Contact Center, a large public‑sector deployment that validates scale and recurring revenue potential for AI offerings. Salesforce AI Agents Enter US Labor Department As Valuation Lags Targets
• Positive Sentiment: Healthcare scale use case — The Veterans Health Administration deployed a Salesforce‑powered agentic operating system to automate workflows and save frontline staff hours, reinforcing enterprise traction for Agentforce in large, mission‑critical customers. VHA Deploys Salesforce-Powered Agentic Operating System, Saving Thousands of Staff Hours for Front-Line Veteran Care
• Positive Sentiment: Large buyback thesis — Analysts and commentators highlight Salesforce’s aggressive capital return (including a $25B accelerated share repurchase within a $50B program) as a key catalyst to lift EPS and support the share price as buybacks meaningfully reduce float. Salesforce: Billions Of Reasons To Own
• Neutral Sentiment: Cost and leadership moves — Salesforce is reshaping executive pay, cutting fewer than 1,000 jobs and appointing new leaders; these moves can lift margins but also signal ongoing restructuring risk. Salesforce Resets Executive Pay And Leadership As Shares Trade Below Targets
• Neutral Sentiment: Small analyst tweak — Erste Group nudged FY27 EPS estimates slightly higher, a data point that offers modest support but doesn’t alter consensus materially. (research note)
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst/target pressure — Some outlets report notable price‑target cuts (example: a ~10.8% downward revision reported) that weigh on near‑term sentiment and downside expectations. Salesforce (CRM) price target decreased by 10.84% to 278.01
• Negative Sentiment: Sector sell‑off — Commentary that software stocks have entered a bear market and coverage noting CRM is down since its last earnings report are pressuring the stock; broad sector flows can outweigh company‑specific positives in the short term. Software Stocks Have Entered a Bear Market. Is This the End of the AI Trade, or Just the Beginning? Salesforce (CRM) Down 6.9% Since Last Earnings Report: Can It Rebound?

Salesforce Trading Down 3.5%

NYSE:CRM opened at $179.14 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 firm has a market cap of $165.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.29. Salesforce Inc. has a 52 week low of $174.57 and a 52 week high of $296.05. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $198.40 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $230.87.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.05 by $0.76. The firm had revenue of $11.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.18 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 15.38% and a net margin of 17.96%.The company's revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.78 EPS. 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, equities analysts expect that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Monday, March 16th that authorizes the company to buyback $25.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the CRM provider to buy up to 14.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 9th will be given a $0.44 dividend. This is an increase from Salesforce's previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 9th. Salesforce's payout ratio is presently 21.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Salesforce

In related news, Director David Blair Kirk purchased 2,570 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $194.62 per share, with a total value 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 acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Laura Alber purchased 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 transaction, the director owned 9,530 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,854,347.40. This trade represents a 36.94% increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Corporate insiders own 3.00% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CRM has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price target on shares of Salesforce from $290.00 to $210.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $400.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Oppenheimer reduced their price objective 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. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Salesforce from $260.00 to $200.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Finally, Evercore dropped their price target on shares of Salesforce from $360.00 to $340.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. 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 issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Salesforce presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $280.21.

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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