Fideuram Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking S.P.A. Invests $34.79 Million in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Key Points

• Fideuram Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking disclosed a new fourth-quarter stake in Salesforce, buying 131,324 shares worth about $34.8 million. The position makes Salesforce about 1.2% of its portfolio and its 13th-largest holding.
• Other institutional investors also added to Salesforce, and overall institutional ownership stands at 80.43%. The article also notes recent insider buying by directors David Blair Kirk and Laura Alber.
• Salesforce continues to draw mixed Wall Street views amid its AI strategy: some investors see upside from the company’s agentic AI efforts, while Bank of America reiterated an Underperform view with a $160 price target over AI-related pressure on the CRM model.

Fideuram Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking S.P.A. bought a new position in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 131,324 shares of the CRM provider's stock, valued at approximately $34,789,000. Salesforce makes up about 1.2% of Fideuram Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking S.P.A.'s holdings, making the stock its 13th biggest position.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Aspire Growth Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 1.2% in the third quarter. Aspire Growth Partners LLC now owns 3,355 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $795,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares during the period. Byrne Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC now owns 4,331 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $1,147,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the period. Mathes Company Inc. increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 0.4% in the third quarter. Mathes Company Inc. now owns 12,558 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $2,976,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the period. Fred Alger Management LLC increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 0.3% in the third quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 14,943 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $3,548,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the period. Finally, Beacon Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 3.5% in the third quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,372 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $325,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company's stock.

Trending Headlines about Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Enterprise software stocks are rallying broadly as investors rotate back into the group after recent pressure tied to fears that AI agents could disrupt traditional SaaS models. Salesforce is benefiting from that sector-wide rebound. From ServiceNow to Salesforce: why are software stocks rallying today?
• Positive Sentiment: Some commentary still views Salesforce as an attractive blue-chip software holding, citing AI-related growth prospects and a relatively reasonable valuation versus peers like Oracle. Buy 5 Blue-Chip Stocks to Enhance Your Portfolio Returns in 2026
• Neutral Sentiment: Salesforce’s AI push remains a key debate on Wall Street. Bank of America restarted coverage with an Underperform rating and a $160 price target, warning that AI may pressure Salesforce’s legacy CRM model and make monetization harder. BofA resets Salesforce stock price target with sobering AI verdict
• Neutral Sentiment: Other coverage is also focused on whether Salesforce can prove its AI strategy is working, with investors watching for evidence that Agentforce and related products can offset concerns about slower long-term growth. Software's "Baby with the Bathwater" Moment
• Negative Sentiment: Market commentary also highlights Salesforce’s recent weakness and the argument that AI disruption could keep investors cautious until growth re-accelerates. Is It Time To Reconsider Salesforce (CRM) After This Year’s 32% Share Price Slide?

Insider Activity

In related news, 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 completion of the acquisition, 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 position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Laura Alber bought 2,571 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 19th. The stock was bought at an average price of $194.58 per share, for a total transaction of $500,265.18. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 9,530 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,854,347.40. The trade was a 36.94% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders own 3.50% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Salesforce from $398.00 to $287.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Wedbush restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $375.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. UBS Group decreased their target price on Salesforce from $260.00 to $200.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. TD Cowen decreased their target price on Salesforce from $325.00 to $250.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, DA Davidson decreased their target price on Salesforce from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Salesforce currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $274.56.

Salesforce Stock Performance

NYSE:CRM opened at $179.46 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $146.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The stock's 50-day moving average is $183.27 and its 200-day moving average is $214.34. Salesforce Inc. has a 1-year low of $163.52 and a 1-year high of $288.44.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.05 by $0.76. The company had revenue of $11.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $11.18 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 15.38% and a net margin of 17.96%.The business's quarterly revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business 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. Equities research analysts anticipate that Salesforce Inc. will post 9.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Monday, March 16th that authorizes the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes 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 board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

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

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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