Kepler Cheuvreux Suisse SA Makes New $1.28 Million Investment in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Key Points

• Kepler Cheuvreux Suisse SA bought a new stake of 5,402 Salesforce shares valued at about $1.28 million during the third quarter.
• Salesforce reported a strong quarter—beating EPS and revenue estimates—and set FY2027 guidance (EPS 13.110–13.190) while also raising its quarterly dividend to $0.44.
• Management priced a $25 billion underwritten senior‑note offering to fund share repurchases, prompting analyst target cuts and credit/market concern about higher leverage.

Kepler Cheuvreux Suisse SA purchased a new stake in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 5,402 shares of the CRM provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,280,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Marquette Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce during the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Salesforce in the 2nd quarter worth $27,000. Country Trust Bank raised its holdings in Salesforce by 658.8% during the second quarter. Country Trust Bank now owns 129 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 112 shares during the period. Capital A Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Salesforce by 40.9% during the second quarter. Capital A Wealth Management LLC now owns 155 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the period. Finally, Kilter Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce in the second quarter valued at about $42,000. 80.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on CRM shares. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price objective on Salesforce from $290.00 to $210.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Roth Mkm lowered their price target on Salesforce from $395.00 to $325.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Evercore dropped their price target on Salesforce from $360.00 to $340.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $260.00 to $200.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $265.00 to $252.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have given a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Salesforce currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $282.06.

Insider Buying and Selling at Salesforce

In other Salesforce news, Director David Blair Kirk acquired 1,936 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 17th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $258.64 per share, with a total value of $500,727.04. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 10,677 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,761,499.28. This represents a 22.15% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Neelie Kroes sold 3,893 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $238.70, for a total transaction of $929,259.10. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 7,299 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,742,271.30. This trade represents a 34.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 3.00% of the company's stock.

Salesforce Price Performance

NYSE:CRM opened at $194.04 on Thursday. The business's 50-day moving average is $213.02 and its 200 day moving average is $235.79. Salesforce Inc. has a 12 month low of $174.57 and a 12 month high of $296.05. The company has a market capitalization of $179.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.85, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.29. 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 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. Salesforce had a return on equity of 15.38% and a net margin of 17.96%.The business had revenue of $11.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $11.18 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.78 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. 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 research analysts forecast that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 9th will be issued a $0.44 dividend. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. This is a boost from Salesforce's previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 9th. Salesforce's payout ratio is 22.54%.

Salesforce News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Management continues to highlight strong fiscal performance and AI momentum (record fiscal 2026 results and strategy for 2027), supporting the company’s long‑term growth story. Salesforce (CRM) Presents at Morgan Stanley’s Conference, Here’s What You Need to Know
• Positive Sentiment: New product initiatives aimed at embedding AI across the front office (Agentforce contact center) may expand stickiness and drive future revenue leverage. Salesforce Launches Agentforce Contact Center to Unify AI, Voice and CRM
• Neutral Sentiment: Salesforce priced an underwritten offering of $25 billion in senior notes (expected to close March 13); proceeds are earmarked to fund share repurchases — a strategic use of capital that boosts buyback flexibility but increases leverage. Salesforce Prices Public Offering of Senior Notes
• Neutral Sentiment: Partner and ISV ecosystem activity (new integrations and Product Intelligence listings on the platform) supports platform adoption but is unlikely to move near‑term results materially. Credibly Streamlines Merchant Application Process, Expands Broker Integration with Cloudsquare
• Negative Sentiment: Market reports say demand for the bond sale was tepid, signaling investor skepticism about taking on big new debt to fund buybacks. Salesforce Sees Tepid Demand for Bond Sale to Fund Share Buyback
• Negative Sentiment: Credit agencies and some analysts flagged higher leverage and changed views after the buyback plan: reports note ratings pressure and commentary that Salesforce is shifting financial policy toward debt‑funded repurchases. Salesforce Weighs Debt Funded Buybacks And Partner Cloud Against Valuation
• Negative Sentiment: Analysts trimmed targets/ratings after Q4 and the capital actions (Northland lowered its target and DA Davidson cut its target/kept Neutral), which can pressure sentiment and reduce near‑term upside. Northland Lowers Price Target on Salesforce DA Davidson Lowers PT on Salesforce, Inc. (CRM) Stock
• Negative Sentiment: Short interest ticked up in February (about a 14.8% increase over mid‑February), a sign some traders are positioned for further near‑term weakness. (Short interest data from recent filings.)

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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