S Bank Fund Management Ltd Increases Holdings in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Key Points

• S Bank Fund Management boosted its stake in Salesforce by 111.7% in Q4 to 42,913 shares, worth about $11.37 million and representing 1.5% of the fund's portfolio (its 16th largest holding).
• Corporate actions and results: Salesforce approved a $25 billion share buyback (up to 14.1% of shares), raised its quarterly dividend to $0.44, and reported a Q beat (EPS $3.81) while issuing FY2027 guidance.
• Insider and institutional positioning: Two directors each bought ~2,570 shares at about $194.6 recently, lifting insider ownership to 3.0%, while institutional investors own roughly 80.4% of the stock.

S Bank Fund Management Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 111.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 42,913 shares of the CRM provider's stock after buying an additional 22,642 shares during the period. Salesforce accounts for 1.5% of S Bank Fund Management Ltd's investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest position. S Bank Fund Management Ltd's holdings in Salesforce were worth $11,368,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Stevens Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce during the 4th quarter worth $4,023,000. Equitable Trust Co. boosted its position in shares of Salesforce by 21.7% during the 4th quarter. Equitable Trust Co. now owns 47,028 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $12,458,000 after acquiring an additional 8,385 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 2,123,665 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $538,604,000 after purchasing an additional 93,997 shares during the period. Destiny Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in Salesforce by 20.4% during the fourth quarter. Destiny Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,022 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $271,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AssuredPartners Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Salesforce during the fourth quarter worth about $371,000. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Salesforce

In related news, Director Laura Alber purchased 2,571 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 19th. The shares were bought at an average price of $194.58 per share, for a total transaction of $500,265.18. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 9,530 shares in the company, valued at $1,854,347.40. This trade represents a 36.94% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director David Blair Kirk purchased 2,570 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the director directly owned 13,689 shares in the company, valued at $2,664,153.18. This represents a 23.11% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders own 3.00% of the company's stock.

More Salesforce News

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Launch of Agentforce Operations — Salesforce rolled out Agentforce Operations, a suite of specialized AI agents designed to automate complex, cross-system back‑office workflows. Investors see this as a meaningful productization of AI that could expand higher‑margin services and drive upsell across large enterprise accounts. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Deeper Google Cloud & ChatGPT integrations — New Google Cloud workflow integrations and enhanced ChatGPT-for-CRM capabilities let automated agents operate across multiple enterprise systems and LLMs, which can accelerate real‑world adoption and make Salesforce’s AI story more defensible versus pure-play rivals. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst sentiment remains constructive — The average brokerage recommendation sits at “Buy,” and coverage notes the strategic pivot and product launches as catalysts that could justify upside versus current multiples. That endorsement supports near‑term demand for the stock. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Valuation check & comparisons — Several pieces assess CRM’s valuation vs. peers (including a CRM vs. SPOT comparison) and highlight that while upside exists from AI-driven revenue, the stock’s forward multiples require execution to justify a higher valuation. Useful for re‑rating scenarios, but not immediate catalysts. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Industry context — Coverage noting large tech layoffs and where AI economics live is background risk/benefit context; it matters to margins and adoption timing but is not Salesforce‑specific. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Intensifying competition — Reports emphasize escalating AI‑agent rivalry with Microsoft and ongoing cloud competition with Oracle; larger rivals could pressure win rates, pricing, or margin expansion if deals tilt toward hyperscalers. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Recent price weakness — Commentary notes a sizable YTD share decline (reflecting earnings, macro and re‑rating risk). That keeps investor sensitivity high: strong execution on Agentforce and integrations is required to sustain a re‑rating. Article Title

Salesforce Price Performance

CRM stock opened at $187.05 on Wednesday. The business's fifty day moving average price is $186.70 and its 200 day moving average price is $219.76. Salesforce Inc. has a 12-month low of $163.52 and a 12-month high of $296.05. 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 company has a market capitalization of $153.05 billion, a PE ratio of 23.95, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.14.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.05 by $0.76. Salesforce had a net margin of 17.96% and a return on equity of 15.38%. The firm had revenue of $11.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $11.18 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.78 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue 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, sell-side analysts anticipate that Salesforce Inc. will post 9.71 EPS for the current year.

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

Salesforce Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CRM has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Oppenheimer decreased their target price on shares of Salesforce from $275.00 to $250.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Northland Securities cut their price target on shares of Salesforce from $267.00 to $229.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 10th. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on Salesforce from $250.00 to $215.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. Wolfe Research reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Salesforce from $235.00 to $210.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have issued a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Salesforce presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $279.18.

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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