Salesforce Inc. $CRM Stock Position Raised by Invesco Ltd.

Key Points

• Invesco raised its stake in Salesforce by 11.8% in Q3, now owning 7,155,512 shares—about 0.75% of the company valued at roughly $1.696 billion.
• Salesforce beat quarterly expectations with EPS $3.81 (vs. $3.05 est.) and $11.20B revenue, set FY2027 EPS guidance of 13.110–13.190, and raised its quarterly dividend to $0.44 (0.9% yield).
• Analyst sentiment is mixed: several firms have cut price targets (e.g., Roth MKM, Wells Fargo) though the average rating is a “Moderate Buy” with a mean target of $282.06, while concerns linger over a $25B debt-funded buyback.

Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 11.8% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,155,512 shares of the CRM provider's stock after acquiring an additional 754,116 shares during the quarter. Invesco Ltd. owned approximately 0.75% of Salesforce worth $1,695,856,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of CRM. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Salesforce by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 89,572,253 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $21,228,624,000 after purchasing an additional 748,772 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Salesforce by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 49,260,918 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $13,452,998,000 after buying an additional 776,300 shares during the period. Capital International Investors raised its holdings in Salesforce by 9.4% during the 3rd quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 20,051,119 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $4,753,519,000 after buying an additional 1,729,440 shares during the period. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in Salesforce by 159.0% during the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 17,325,206 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $4,106,255,000 after buying an additional 10,636,161 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Salesforce during the second quarter valued at about $2,826,049,000. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on CRM. Roth Mkm dropped their target price on shares of Salesforce from $395.00 to $325.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Truist Financial set a $280.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Mizuho lowered their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $280.00 to $265.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report 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. Finally, Guggenheim restated a "neutral" rating on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, December 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have issued a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Salesforce presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $282.06.

Salesforce Trading Up 2.3%

Salesforce stock opened at $198.68 on Friday. Salesforce Inc. has a one year low of $174.57 and a one year high of $296.05. The company's fifty day moving average price is $211.70 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $235.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The company has a market capitalization of $183.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.44, a PEG ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.29.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.05 by $0.76. The company had revenue of $11.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $11.18 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 15.38% and a net margin of 17.96%.The business's quarterly revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.78 earnings per share. 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, analysts forecast that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 9th will be issued a $0.44 dividend. This is an increase 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 dividend payout ratio is presently 21.25%.

Insider Activity at Salesforce

In other news, Director David Blair Kirk purchased 1,936 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 17th. The shares were bought at an average price of $258.64 per share, with a total value of $500,727.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 10,677 shares in the company, valued at $2,761,499.28. This trade represents a 22.15% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Neelie Kroes sold 3,893 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the director owned 7,299 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,742,271.30. The trade was a 34.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 3.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Salesforce News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Strong recent fundamentals and AI momentum bolster investor confidence—analysts and coverage pieces note Salesforce’s robust fiscal 2026 results and rising AI-driven demand that supported recent gains. CRM Stock Up More Than 5% in a Month: Should You Buy, Sell or Hold?
• Positive Sentiment: Product/GTMS initiatives: Salesforce is pushing contact-center modernization with Agentforce, which could drive upsells in Service Cloud and contact-center spend. Salesforce Aims to End the ‘Frankenstein’ Contact Center With Agentforce
• Positive Sentiment: Partner and integration momentum—third-party vendors (e.g., LivePerson, Cloudsquare integrations) are emphasizing Salesforce as the CRM backbone, which supports platform stickiness and ecosystem revenue. LivePerson Announces Event-driven Orchestration Partnership with Coral Active
• Positive Sentiment: Management outreach to investors: recent presentations at Morgan Stanley highlighted record fiscal 2026 performance and strategic priorities for 2027, helping sentiment. Salesforce (CRM) Presents at Morgan Stanley’s Conference, Here’s What You Need to Know
• Neutral Sentiment: Capital markets execution: Salesforce priced an underwritten offering of senior notes (aggregate $25B) with proceeds earmarked for buybacks—a definitive move but execution/terms will determine impact. Salesforce Prices Public Offering of Senior Notes
• Neutral Sentiment: Longer-term context pieces and competitor comparisons (Oracle, ServiceNow) highlight that Salesforce remains a cloud/AI market leader, but growth comparisons show mixed near-term organic trends. What If You Had Invested $1,000 in Oracle or Salesforce 10 Years Ago?
• Negative Sentiment: Tepid demand and higher yields on the $25B bond package have surfaced—reports show investor hesitation and higher required yields, signalling market concern about the leverage and pricing of debt-funded buybacks. Salesforce Sees Tepid Demand for Bond Sale to Fund Share Buyback
• Negative Sentiment: Credit and analyst pressure: rating agencies reacted to the buyback/debt move and some brokers issued downgrades or pessimistic forecasts—this increases financing costs and adds near-term downside risk. Salesforce Weighs Debt Funded Buybacks And Partner Cloud Against Valuation
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst downgrade and bearish notes have pressured sentiment, with some reports calling for lower near-term price targets. Salesforce NYSE: CRM Stock Price Down 2% on Analyst Downgrade

Salesforce Company 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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