Salesforce Inc. $CRM Shares Acquired by Associated Banc Corp

Key Points

• Associated Banc Corp increased its Salesforce stake by 18.2% in the fourth quarter, ending with 212,311 shares worth about $56.2 million. Salesforce now makes up roughly 1.4% of the firm’s holdings.
• Insiders also bought shares, with directors David Blair Kirk and Laura Alber each purchasing about 2,570 shares in March, signaling internal confidence in the stock. Insiders currently own 3.5% of Salesforce.
• Salesforce remains a mixed but closely watched name: the company beat last quarter’s earnings and revenue estimates, approved a $25 billion buyback, and raised its dividend, while analysts remain split with a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and a $274.12 price target.

Associated Banc Corp boosted its position in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 18.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 212,311 shares of the CRM provider's stock after acquiring an additional 32,676 shares during the quarter. Salesforce accounts for about 1.4% of Associated Banc Corp's holdings, making the stock its 16th biggest holding. Associated Banc Corp's holdings in Salesforce were worth $56,243,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Board of the Pension Protection Fund acquired a new stake in Salesforce in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Key Capital Management INC acquired a new stake in Salesforce during the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. Legacy Bridge LLC acquired a new stake in Salesforce during the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,000. Texas Capital Bancshares Inc TX acquired a new stake in Salesforce during the third quarter worth approximately $28,000. Finally, Dogwood Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Salesforce by 285.7% during the fourth quarter. Dogwood Wealth Management LLC now owns 108 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director David Blair Kirk bought 2,570 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $194.62 per share, with a total value of $500,173.40. Following the purchase, the director owned 13,689 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,664,153.18. This trade represents a 23.11% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Laura Alber acquired 2,571 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 19th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $194.58 per share, with a total value of $500,265.18. Following the purchase, the director owned 9,530 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,854,347.40. The trade was a 36.94% increase in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Insiders own 3.50% of the company's stock.

Key Stories Impacting Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce announced an expanded collaboration with Cint to deliver next-generation AI-powered support through Slack, reinforcing the company’s push into agentic enterprise workflows and AI-driven automation. Cint and Salesforce to Deliver the Next Generation of AI-Powered Support
• Positive Sentiment: Several analyst- and media-driven pieces highlighted Salesforce as an attractive AI and software value play, with commentary pointing to strong upside potential and expectations that Q1 results may benefit from continued digital transformation and generative AI adoption. Salesforce Likely to Beat Q1 Earnings Estimates: Time to Buy the Stock?
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street price-target articles continue to suggest meaningful upside for CRM, with analysts’ average target implying a large gain from current levels and some firms still keeping bullish ratings. Does Salesforce (CRM) Have the Potential to Rally 53.21% as Wall Street Analysts Expect?
• Neutral Sentiment: Salesforce granted 64,296 RSUs to 27 employees tied to the Cimulate acquisition; this is routine retention-related equity compensation and is not likely to materially move the stock on its own. Salesforce Grants Equity Awards to Cimulate Under Its Inducement Equity Incentive Plan
• Neutral Sentiment: Investors are also focused on Salesforce’s upcoming earnings release and expected post-earnings volatility, which adds uncertainty but no clear directional catalyst yet. Here's How Much Traders Expect Salesforce Stock Could Move After Earnings
• Negative Sentiment: UBS flagged a mixed enterprise software spending backdrop and said it sees limited signs of near-term acceleration in bookings, which may be weighing on sentiment into earnings. Salesforce faces tough enterprise software backdrop heading into earnings, says UBS
• Negative Sentiment: Bank of America reiterated an Underperform rating with a $160 target, signaling that some analysts remain cautious on the stock despite Salesforce’s strong market position. BofA Maintains Underperform Rating on Salesforce (CRM)

Salesforce Trading Up 2.3%

NYSE:CRM opened at $180.32 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $147.54 billion, a PE ratio of 23.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. Salesforce Inc. has a 52-week low of $163.52 and a 52-week high of $280.74. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $182.26 and a 200-day simple moving average of $212.98.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 the consensus estimate of $11.18 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.78 EPS. The business's revenue 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, equities research analysts expect that Salesforce Inc. will post 9.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce declared that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Monday, March 16th that authorizes the company to buyback $25.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the CRM provider to reacquire up to 14.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often an indication that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 9th were paid a $0.44 dividend. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 9th. This is a positive change from Salesforce's previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. Salesforce's dividend payout ratio is presently 22.54%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CRM has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $235.00 to $225.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Wedbush reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $375.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $398.00 to $287.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $290.00 to $210.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $265.00 to $252.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have issued a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Salesforce currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $274.12.

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.

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.