Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd Reduces Stock Position in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Key Points

• Harvest Fund Management cut its stake in Salesforce by 34.6%, selling 7,545 shares to leave 14,236 shares valued at $3.373 million at the end of Q3.
• Salesforce beat quarterly expectations (EPS $3.81 vs. $3.05 est.) and set FY2027 guidance (EPS 13.110–13.190) while raising its quarterly dividend to $0.44 ($1.76 annualized).
• The company priced a $25 billion senior-note offering to fund buybacks, a move that prompted higher demanded yields, analyst downgrades and near-term selling pressure.

Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd lessened its position in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 34.6% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,236 shares of the CRM provider's stock after selling 7,545 shares during the period. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd's holdings in Salesforce were worth $3,373,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of CRM. Texas Capital Bancshares Inc TX bought a new position in shares of Salesforce during the third quarter valued at about $28,000. Texas Capital Bank Wealth Management Services Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the third quarter worth about $338,000. WCG Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Salesforce by 7.8% in the third quarter. WCG Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 20,005 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $4,741,000 after purchasing an additional 1,455 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Advisors of Tampa Bay LLC increased its holdings in Salesforce by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Wealth Advisors of Tampa Bay LLC now owns 15,781 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $3,740,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares during the period. Finally, Zuckerman Investment Group LLC purchased a new position in Salesforce during the 3rd quarter valued at about $6,640,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company's stock.

Salesforce Stock Down 3.3%

Shares of NYSE:CRM opened at $192.63 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $177.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.66, a P/E/G ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.29. 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 stock has a 50 day moving average price of $210.48 and a 200-day moving average price of $235.15. Salesforce Inc. has a 52-week low of $174.57 and a 52-week high of $296.05.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $3.05 by $0.76. The company had revenue of $11.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.18 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 15.38% and a net margin of 17.96%.The firm's revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company 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. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.44 per share. This is a boost from Salesforce's previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 9th. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Salesforce's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.25%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CRM has been the subject of several research analyst reports. DA Davidson dropped 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. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their target price on Salesforce from $290.00 to $210.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Citigroup upped their target price on Salesforce from $197.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, March 2nd. Canaccord Genuity Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $300.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Salesforce from $365.00 to $320.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have issued a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $282.06.

Key Salesforce News

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce is rolling out Agentforce, its contact-center-as-a-service push aimed at replacing fragmented contact-center stacks—this could deepen wallet-share with large enterprise customers and support growth in CRM-adjacent services. Salesforce Aims to End the ‘Frankenstein’ Contact Center With Agentforce
• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce added six Agentforce Health agents pre-wired with integrations for healthcare workflows—strengthens vertical product shelf and could accelerate adoption in a high-value industry. Salesforce Announces Six New Agentforce Health Agents Pre-Wired With Rich Integrations
• Positive Sentiment: Management intends to use net proceeds from the $25B senior-note offering to fund buybacks—this can be EPS-accretive and supports shareholder returns if repurchases are executed. Salesforce Prices Public Offering of Senior Notes
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst roundups following Salesforce’s fiscal Q4 results highlight mixed views—earnings beat and guidance were solid, but some analysts remain cautious on valuation and AI execution risk. What are Analysts Thinking of Salesforce (CRM) Following Fourth Quarter Fiscal 2026 Results?
• Neutral Sentiment: Formal notice that the $25B notes have been priced is a factual development—markets are focused on coupon levels and close conditions. Salesforce Prices Public Offering of Senior Notes
• Neutral Sentiment: Competitive ecosystem moves: LivePerson launched integrations that work with Salesforce, underscoring partner/competitor dynamics in conversational AI and contact-center orchestration. LivePerson Announces Event-driven Orchestration Partnership with Coral Active
• Negative Sentiment: Market commentary warns investors demanded higher yields on the bond sale—Zacks flags caution around rising leverage and AI uncertainty, which can pressure multiples and sentiment. Salesforce Taps Bonds for Buybacks as Investors Demand More Yield
• Negative Sentiment: Recent analyst downgrade(s) and at least one pessimistic price forecast have added selling pressure and negative sentiment near term. Salesforce NYSE: CRM Stock Price Down 2% on Analyst Downgrade Northland Securities Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Salesforce NYSE: CRM Stock Price

Insider Transactions at Salesforce

In related news, Director Neelie Kroes sold 3,893 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $238.70, for a total transaction of $929,259.10. Following the sale, the director owned 7,299 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,742,271.30. The trade was a 34.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director David Blair Kirk acquired 1,936 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 17th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $258.64 per share, for a total transaction of $500,727.04. Following the acquisition, the director owned 10,677 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,761,499.28. This trade represents a 22.15% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. 3.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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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