Global X Japan Co. Ltd. Has $5.22 Million Stock Holdings in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Key Points

• Global X Japan Co. Ltd. increased its stake by 273.3% in Salesforce during Q4, buying an additional 14,430 shares to hold 19,710 shares worth about $5.22 million.
• Salesforce's board authorized a $25 billion share buyback (allowing repurchase of up to 14.1% of shares) and raised the quarterly dividend to $0.44 ($1.76 annualized, ~0.9% yield).
• Insider activity included Director David Blair Kirk buying 2,570 shares at roughly $194.62 while Director Neelie Kroes sold 3,893 shares; the company also posted a Q4 earnings beat (EPS $3.81 vs. $3.05) and set FY2027 EPS guidance of 13.110–13.190.

Global X Japan Co. Ltd. grew its position in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 273.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 19,710 shares of the CRM provider's stock after purchasing an additional 14,430 shares during the quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd.'s holdings in Salesforce were worth $5,221,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Aspire Growth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 1.2% during the third quarter. Aspire Growth Partners LLC now owns 3,355 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $795,000 after buying an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. Abacus Planning Group Inc. raised its holdings in Salesforce by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. Abacus Planning Group Inc. now owns 1,420 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $337,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. 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. Code Waechter LLC increased its stake in Salesforce by 5.3% in the third quarter. Code Waechter LLC now owns 871 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $209,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital A Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 40.9% during the 2nd quarter. Capital A Wealth Management LLC now owns 155 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director David Blair Kirk purchased 2,570 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $194.62 per share, for a total transaction of $500,173.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 13,689 shares in the company, valued at $2,664,153.18. This trade represents a 23.11% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Neelie Kroes sold 3,893 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $238.70, for a total value of $929,259.10. Following the sale, the director owned 7,299 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,742,271.30. This represents a 34.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 3.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Key Headlines Impacting Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Major customer and government deployments of Agentforce (AI contact-center/agentic platform) provide revenue proof-points and credibility for Salesforce’s AI monetization — the U.S. Dept. of Labor and the Veterans Health Administration announced rollouts that expand addressable market and showcase large-scale, sticky deployments. U.S. Department of Labor Taps Agentforce
• Positive Sentiment: Adecco and other enterprise customers adopting Agentforce/Agentforce Voice signal cross-industry traction for Salesforce’s AI CRM, supporting revenue upside and ARR growth for AI products. Institutional client rollouts help convert product announcements into recurring revenue. Salesforce Lands DoL Deal To Power AI Agent 'DOLA'
• Positive Sentiment: Large buyback and capital-return narrative: analysis pieces highlight Salesforce’s $50B repurchase program (including $25B accelerated repurchase) and management’s use of buybacks plus solid free cash flow — this reduces share count and supports EPS, a clear positive for investors. Salesforce: Billions Of Reasons To Own
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst coverage remains largely positive (≈75% Buy) with a $255 consensus target cited — that supports medium-term upside expectations but is tempered by varying price targets. Analyst optimism may cushion downside but won’t eliminate volatility. Analysts Bullish on Salesforce (CRM) Amid New AI Launches and Insider Purchases
• Neutral Sentiment: Cost-cutting and pay adjustments (skip raises for director-level and above, targeted layoffs <1,000) boost near-term margins but signal management balancing growth investments vs. profitability; effect depends on how reinvestment in AI proceeds. Salesforce Resets Executive Pay And Leadership As Shares Trade Below Targets
• Negative Sentiment: An analyst price-target cut reduced a key target by ~10.8% (to 278.01), which can pressure sentiment and trigger short-term selling or re-rating by funds that track targets. Salesforce (CRM) price target decreased by 10.84% to 278.01
• Negative Sentiment: Sector-wide weakness: commentary that software stocks have entered a near-term bear market increases macro selling risk for growth/AI-exposed names and can drag CRM even if company-specific fundamentals remain solid. Software Stocks Have Entered a Bear Market. Is This the End of the AI Trade, or Just the Beginning?
• Negative Sentiment: Coverage noting AI concerns and investor caution has contributed to pullbacks in sentiment, particularly among traders worried about AI disruption risks and valuation compression. Salesforce (CRM) Declined on AI Concerns but Remains a Mission-Critical Enterprise Platform

Salesforce Stock Performance

CRM opened at $185.56 on Friday. Salesforce Inc. has a 1-year low of $174.57 and a 1-year high of $296.05. The company has a market cap of $171.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.76, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.29. The company's fifty day moving average price is $199.36 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $231.38. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last posted its 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. Salesforce had a net margin of 17.96% and a return on equity of 15.38%. The company had revenue of $11.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.18 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.78 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. 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, analysts expect that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

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 represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. This is an increase from Salesforce's previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 9th. Salesforce's dividend payout ratio is currently 22.54%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on CRM. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their target price on shares of Salesforce from $290.00 to $210.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on Salesforce from $340.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, December 4th. BTIG Research cut their target price on shares of Salesforce from $260.00 to $255.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Northland Securities decreased their price target on shares of Salesforce from $267.00 to $229.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 10th. Finally, DA Davidson decreased their price objective on Salesforce from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 27th. 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 given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus 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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding CRM? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.