Erste Asset Management GmbH Has $46.10 Million Stock Holdings in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Key Points

• Erste Asset Management GmbH boosted its Salesforce stake by 17.7% in Q4, ending with 173,403 shares valued at about $46.1 million.
• Salesforce reported strong quarterly results, with EPS of $3.88 beating estimates and revenue of $11.13 billion, up 13.3% year over year.
• The company is returning capital to shareholders through a $25 billion share buyback program and a quarterly dividend of $0.44 per share.

Erste Asset Management GmbH increased its holdings in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 17.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 173,403 shares of the CRM provider's stock after buying an additional 26,137 shares during the period. Erste Asset Management GmbH's holdings in Salesforce were worth $46,099,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Rockland Trust Co. raised its holdings in Salesforce by 1,145.6% during the 3rd quarter. Rockland Trust Co. now owns 13,066 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $3,097,000 after purchasing an additional 12,017 shares during the last quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Salesforce by 98.3% during the 3rd quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 21,455 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $5,085,000 after purchasing an additional 10,633 shares during the last quarter. Midwest Trust Co raised its holdings in Salesforce by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Midwest Trust Co now owns 187,071 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $44,336,000 after purchasing an additional 4,233 shares during the last quarter. Profund Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Salesforce by 7.2% during the 3rd quarter. Profund Advisors LLC now owns 40,041 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $9,490,000 after purchasing an additional 2,704 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Krilogy Financial LLC bought a new position in Salesforce during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $2,944,000. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Salesforce Stock Performance

Shares of CRM stock opened at $185.85 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $152.21 billion, a PE ratio of 21.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 1.16. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $181.31 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $208.71. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. Salesforce Inc. has a 12 month low of $163.52 and a 12 month high of $276.80.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 27th. The CRM provider reported $3.88 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.13 by $0.75. The business had revenue of $11.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.05 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 18.73% and a return on equity of 18.72%. Salesforce's quarterly revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business 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. Analysts forecast that Salesforce Inc. will post 10.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.44 per share. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 11th. Salesforce's payout ratio is 20.37%.

Salesforce declared that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Monday, March 16th that permits the company to buyback $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the CRM provider to repurchase up to 14.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on CRM. KeyCorp lowered their price target on shares of Salesforce from $300.00 to $290.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 28th. Piper Sandler lowered shares of Salesforce from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, May 28th. Mizuho lowered their price target 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. Bank of America started coverage on shares of Salesforce in a report on Monday, May 18th. They set an "underperform" rating and a $160.00 price target for the company. Finally, B. Riley Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $205.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have given a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Salesforce currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $257.97.

Key Headlines Impacting Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce announced a landmark partnership with FIFA for the 2026 World Cup and 2027 Women’s World Cup, which could showcase its AI-driven Agentforce 360 platform to a massive global audience and potentially drive future enterprise demand. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: KeyCorp kept an Overweight rating and a $290 price target on Salesforce, while modeling earnings above consensus for FY2027, signaling continued analyst confidence in the company’s profit growth. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Recent commentary highlights Salesforce’s strong momentum, helped by its AI strategy, Agentforce rollout, recurring revenue base, and expanding free cash flow, which may keep long-term investors interested. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Salesforce’s presentation at the Evercore Global TMT Conference and valuation-focused coverage suggest investors are still reassessing how much of the AI and Agentforce optimism is already priced in. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Bridgewater Associates reportedly sold Salesforce, which can pressure sentiment in the near term, although the article argues that institutional selling may create a better entry point for patient investors. Article Title

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Salesforce news, Director David Blair Kirk purchased 2,570 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $194.62 per share, for a total transaction of $500,173.40. Following the purchase, the director owned 13,689 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,664,153.18. This trade represents a 23.11% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Laura Alber purchased 2,571 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 19th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $194.58 per share, with a total value of $500,265.18. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 9,530 shares in the company, valued at $1,854,347.40. This represents a 36.94% increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Insiders own 3.50% of the company's stock.

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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