Salesforce Inc. $CRM Shares Acquired by M&T Bank Corp

Key Points

• M&T Bank Corp increased its stake in Salesforce by 166.6% in Q4, buying an additional 243,396 shares to hold 389,479 shares valued at about $103.18 million.
• Salesforce's board authorized a $25 billion share repurchase (up to ~14.1% of shares) and raised the quarterly dividend to $0.44 from $0.42, signaling stronger shareholder return actions.
• Salesforce topped expectations with EPS $3.81 vs. $3.05 and $11.2B revenue for the quarter, gave FY2027 EPS guidance of 13.110–13.190, and carries a consensus "Moderate Buy" rating with an average price target near $279.

M&T Bank Corp grew its stake in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 166.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 389,479 shares of the CRM provider's stock after purchasing an additional 243,396 shares during the quarter. M&T Bank Corp's holdings in Salesforce were worth $103,177,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of CRM. Marquette Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. Board of the Pension Protection Fund bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Key Capital Management INC bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Legacy Bridge LLC bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Finally, Texas Capital Bancshares Inc TX bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the 3rd quarter valued at about $28,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CRM has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $365.00 to $320.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. BTIG Research reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $255.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Friday, April 17th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an "overweight" rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, Truist Financial set a $280.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have issued a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $279.18.

Salesforce Price Performance

NYSE CRM opened at $187.17 on Wednesday. Salesforce Inc. has a 52 week low of $163.52 and a 52 week 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 stock has a market cap of $153.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $187.58 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $223.21.

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 firm had revenue of $11.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $11.18 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.78 EPS. Salesforce's quarterly 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. Analysts forecast that Salesforce Inc. will post 9.71 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 9th will be given a $0.44 dividend. This is a positive change from Salesforce's previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 9th. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. Salesforce's payout ratio is currently 22.54%.

Salesforce announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Monday, March 16th that permits the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the CRM provider to purchase up to 14.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Laura Alber bought 2,571 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 19th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $194.58 per share, for a total transaction of $500,265.18. Following the transaction, the director owned 9,530 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,854,347.40. This trade represents a 36.94% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director David Blair Kirk bought 2,570 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the director owned 13,689 shares in the company, valued at $2,664,153.18. The trade was a 23.11% increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. 3.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Salesforce News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce expanded Agent Fabric with a centralized control plane, automated discovery of external models, workflow mapping and tighter governance — features that help large customers adopt multi-vendor AI securely and could protect or grow enterprise revenue. Salesforce Pushes Deeper Into Enterprise AI Control With Agent Fabric Upgrade
• Positive Sentiment: Truist reiterated a Buy and $280 price target after Salesforce’s TDX developer conference — a signal that at least some institutional analysts expect stronger medium‑term upside tied to AI/product monetization. Is Salesforce (CRM) One of the Best Large Cap Stocks to Buy Right Now?
• Positive Sentiment: CEO Marc Benioff and company commentary highlighting "Agentforce"/"Agenticware" successes are being cited as a near‑term catalyst driving investor enthusiasm and intraday buying. This messaging supports the narrative that AI can offset SaaS slowdown risks. Why Is Salesforce Stock Charging Higher On Monday?
• Neutral Sentiment: Ticketure’s acquisition of PatronManager (a Salesforce‑native CRM) signals continued ecosystem demand for Salesforce integrations, but it’s a niche/partner move with limited direct revenue impact. Ticketure Acquires PatronManager to Unify Best in Breed Ticketing and CRM
• Neutral Sentiment: Salesforce’s broader AI marketing initiatives (e.g., "Headless 360") signal ambition but remain higher‑level; execution and monetization timelines will determine investor impact. Salesforce Announces Huge AI Initiative and Calls It ‘Headless 360’
• Negative Sentiment: Comparisons to Adobe argue Adobe has an edge: stronger AI‑driven growth outlook, better EPS trajectory and lower valuation — a competitive narrative that can pressure CRM multiples. Salesforce vs. Adobe: Which AI-Driven Software Stock Has an Edge?
• Negative Sentiment: Persistent bearish headlines highlight that CRM has tracked a significant YTD decline, feeding concerns that AI could disrupt traditional SaaS revenue models — a sentiment that can limit valuation recovery until concrete upside appears. Salesforce (CRM) Stock Plunges 30% YTD as AI Threatens Traditional SaaS Revenue Model

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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