Salesforce Inc. $CRM Shares Acquired by Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V.

Key Points

• Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. grew its stake in Salesforce by 6.0% in Q4, buying an additional 99,642 shares to hold 1,764,102 shares worth about $467.3 million (roughly 0.19% of the company and its 21st-largest holding).
• Salesforce's board approved a $25 billion share repurchase program (up to ~14.1% of shares) and the company raised its quarterly dividend to $0.44 ($1.76 annualized, ~1.1% yield).
• Insider activity included Director Laura Alber buying 2,571 shares (~$500k) and Director Neelie Kroes selling 3,893 shares (~$929k); insiders now own about 3% of the stock.

Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. grew its stake in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 6.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,764,102 shares of the CRM provider's stock after purchasing an additional 99,642 shares during the quarter. Salesforce makes up approximately 0.7% of Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V.'s holdings, making the stock its 21st biggest holding. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. owned about 0.19% of Salesforce worth $467,328,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Mainsail Financial Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Salesforce by 11.7% in the 4th quarter. Mainsail Financial Group LLC now owns 3,638 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $964,000 after purchasing an additional 382 shares in the last quarter. Wallace Advisory Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Salesforce by 107.3% in the 4th quarter. Wallace Advisory Group LLC now owns 2,021 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $535,000 after purchasing an additional 1,046 shares in the last quarter. NBT Bank N A NY raised its stake in shares of Salesforce by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. NBT Bank N A NY now owns 14,995 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $3,909,000 after purchasing an additional 426 shares in the last quarter. Gibbs Wealth Management raised its stake in shares of Salesforce by 142.2% in the 4th quarter. Gibbs Wealth Management now owns 5,476 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $1,423,000 after purchasing an additional 3,215 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bouvel Investment Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Salesforce by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Bouvel Investment Partners LLC now owns 19,905 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $5,273,000 after purchasing an additional 327 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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 Neelie Kroes sold 3,893 shares of the company'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 transaction, the director owned 7,299 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,742,271.30. This trade represents a 34.78% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 3.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Salesforce Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CRM opened at $164.99 on Friday. 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 fifty-two week low of $163.52 and a fifty-two week high of $296.05. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $189.91 and a 200 day simple moving average of $226.33. The company has a market cap of $152.29 billion, a PE ratio of 21.13, a P/E/G ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.29.

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 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 prior year, the firm earned $2.78 EPS. The company'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, sell-side analysts anticipate that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 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 repurchase $25.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the CRM provider to reacquire up to 14.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

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 1.1%. Salesforce's payout ratio is currently 22.54%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Mizuho cut their target price on shares of Salesforce from $280.00 to $265.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Salesforce from $235.00 to $210.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Needham & Company LLC restated a "buy" rating and issued a $400.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $197.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. Finally, KeyCorp lowered their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $400.00 to $300.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $280.21.

More Salesforce News

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Strong underlying fundamentals: recent coverage highlights Salesforce's trailing‑12‑month revenue (~$41.5B), solid profitability (77.6% gross margin, ~13.9% profit margin), nearly $15B operating cash flow and $7.8 diluted EPS — all arguments that the company’s core business can justify a higher multiple over time. Salesforce Stock Is Dropping Today: What's Going On?
• Positive Sentiment: Ecosystem wins / product integrations: Redpanda’s new real‑time, bidirectional connectors to Salesforce position CRM more as a central data hub — a feature that can increase platform stickiness and justify long‑term value capture. Salesforce Connectors From Redpanda Put Focus On CRM Valuation Gap
• Neutral Sentiment: Options activity signaling volatility: recent options flow has drawn attention — heightened options interest can presage larger moves (up or down) around earnings, product news or macro catalysts but is not a directional confirmation on its own. Is the Options Market Predicting a Spike in Salesforce Stock?
• Neutral Sentiment: Valuation debate / buy/hold view: some analysts note CRM is down sharply YTD (~35%) and argue the pullback plus ongoing AI adoption and improving growth make it a hold at current prices — this frames the decline as a potential buying opportunity for longer‑term investors. Salesforce Plunges 35% YTD: Should You Buy, Sell or Hold the Stock?
• Negative Sentiment: Sector shock from new AI models: reports about Anthropic’s latest model and broader headlines have sparked a selloff across software stocks, pressuring CRM as investors rotate toward AI infrastructure and hardware beneficiaries. Anthropic's Latest AI Model Sends a Shockwave Through Software Stocks
• Negative Sentiment: Macro/strategy commentary: high‑profile commentary (e.g., Jim Cramer) indicates a renewed “buy hardware, sell software” rotation, which can keep downward pressure on valuation multiples for large software vendors like Salesforce. Cramer explains the divergence in tech stocks – and why software may continue to lag
• Negative Sentiment: Stock price technical and momentum concerns: coverage noting three‑year lows and a steep YTD decline highlight momentum weakness that can perpetuate selling until clearer positive catalysts emerge. Salesforce stock just crashed to 3-year lows; Here's why
• Negative Sentiment: Competitive/product signals: items about alternatives (e.g., Slackbot as a CRM interface) and specialized Salesforce‑based solutions could be read as both ecosystem expansion and potential competitive friction for certain use cases. Slack instead of Salesforce: Slackbot becomes CRM interface

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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