Salesforce Inc. $CRM Shares Purchased by Natixis Advisors LLC

Key Points

• Natixis Advisors LLC raised its stake in Salesforce by 0.9% in Q3, buying 8,644 shares to hold 981,178 shares (about 0.10% of the company), valued at roughly $232.5M.
• Salesforce reported a quarterly earnings beat (EPS $3.81 vs. $3.05 expected; revenue $11.20B vs. $11.18B), announced a $50B buyback and raised its quarterly dividend to $0.44, boosting investor sentiment despite lingering AI/valuation concerns.
• Institutional ownership is high at 80.43%, with large funds like Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo and First Trust materially increasing positions (to ~3.81M and ~3.36M shares, respectively).

Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 0.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 981,178 shares of the CRM provider's stock after buying an additional 8,644 shares during the quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC owned approximately 0.10% of Salesforce worth $232,539,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC increased its stake in Salesforce by 28.8% during the 3rd quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC now owns 3,810,635 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $903,121,000 after buying an additional 853,160 shares in the last quarter. Munich Reinsurance Co Stock Corp in Munich purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce in the third quarter valued at approximately $6,993,000. Ameriflex Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 115.9% in the third quarter. Ameriflex Group Inc. now owns 2,356 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $558,000 after acquiring an additional 1,265 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 25.8% in the third quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 3,362,464 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $796,904,000 after acquiring an additional 688,991 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legacy Capital Group California Inc. increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 43.9% during the third quarter. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. now owns 4,748 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $1,125,000 after purchasing an additional 1,448 shares in the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Headlines Impacting Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Recent earnings and market reaction — Salesforce reported an earnings beat and record revenue, and the stock has rebounded from recent lows as investors appear to be looking past worst‑case AI fears. This is the main driver of improving sentiment. Salesforce: A Week After Earnings, the Market Has Spoken
• Positive Sentiment: Large buyback and cash flow strength — Analysts highlight a meaningful free cash flow beat and Salesforce’s announcement of a massive $50B buyback, which can materially support share price and EPS over time. Salesforce: AI Disruption Fears Create Mispricing
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst upgrades and bullish price targets — Multiple firms have reiterated or raised ratings (e.g., Phillip Securities maintained a Buy with a $253 target), helping lift investor confidence. Upgrades/price‑target moves are directly supportive of the rally. Phillip Securities Maintains a Buy on Salesforce (CRM)
• Positive Sentiment: Product/AI momentum and partnerships — New AI initiatives (Agentforce) and a Formula 1 fan‑agent rollout show tangible go‑to‑market AI use cases that support long‑term monetization of AI features. Salesforce Inc. (CRM) Leverages AI to Transform Fan and Customer Engagement
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst/industry writeups highlight momentum and valuation — Several outlets (Zacks) list Salesforce among software names positioned to benefit from a sector recovery; these articles boost visibility but provide less immediate price impact than earnings or buybacks. The Software Recovery Already Started: 5 Stocks to Buy Now
• Neutral Sentiment: Geographic expansion — Reports noting the Philippines as a fast‑growing market signal incremental revenue opportunities but are less likely to move the stock near term. Philippines fastest-growing market for Salesforce in Southeast Asia
• Negative Sentiment: Ongoing AI disruption and valuation concerns — Despite improving signals, investors remain wary that AI could compress demand or enable lower‑cost competitors; the stock still reflects a material YTD and 1‑year decline, keeping downside risk present. Is Salesforce (CRM) Pricing Reflect Its Cash Flow Outlook After Recent Share Price Weakness

Salesforce Stock Up 0.3%

NYSE CRM opened at $202.04 on Friday. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $217.21 and its 200-day simple moving average is $236.86. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The firm has a market cap of $186.48 billion, a PE ratio of 25.87, a P/E/G ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.29. Salesforce Inc. has a 52 week low of $174.57 and a 52 week high of $296.05.

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 (EPS) 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 analyst estimates of $11.18 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.78 earnings per share. 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. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 9th will be paid a $0.44 dividend. This is a positive change from Salesforce's previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 9th. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Salesforce's dividend payout ratio is currently 21.25%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CRM has been the topic of a number of research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on Salesforce from $340.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, December 4th. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on shares of Salesforce from $325.00 to $315.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 4th. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Salesforce from $265.00 to $252.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. TD Cowen lowered their price target on shares of Salesforce from $325.00 to $250.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $375.00 to $250.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $283.14.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director David Blair Kirk purchased 1,936 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 17th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $258.64 per share, with a total value of $500,727.04. Following the transaction, the director owned 10,677 shares in the company, valued at $2,761,499.28. This represents a 22.15% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Neelie Kroes sold 3,893 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $238.70, for a total value of $929,259.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 7,299 shares in the company, valued at $1,742,271.30. This represents a 34.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 3.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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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