Swedbank AB Has $556.31 Million Stock Position in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Key Points

• Swedbank AB cut its stake in Salesforce by 19.1% in Q4, selling 496,798 shares and now holds 2,099,981 shares valued at about $556.31 million (roughly 0.22% of the company).
• Salesforce beat quarterly expectations with $3.81 EPS (vs. $3.05) and $11.20B revenue (up 12.1% y/y), set FY2027 EPS guidance of 13.110–13.190, raised its quarterly dividend to $0.44, and authorized a $25 billion share buyback (up to 14.1% of stock).
• Analyst consensus sits at “Moderate Buy” with a $279.18 price target, but recent price-target cuts and rising competition (Microsoft, Oracle) offset optimism from AI initiatives like Agentforce and deeper Google/ChatGPT integrations.

Swedbank AB lessened its stake in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 19.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,099,981 shares of the CRM provider's stock after selling 496,798 shares during the quarter. Swedbank AB owned approximately 0.22% of Salesforce worth $556,306,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Marquette Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Salesforce in the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Board of the Pension Protection Fund bought a new stake in Salesforce in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Key Capital Management INC bought a new stake in Salesforce in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Legacy Bridge LLC bought a new stake in Salesforce in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Finally, Texas Capital Bancshares Inc TX bought a new stake in Salesforce in the 3rd quarter valued at $28,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CRM has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Northland Securities dropped their price target on Salesforce from $267.00 to $229.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 10th. Mizuho dropped their price target on Salesforce from $280.00 to $265.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Roth Mkm dropped their price target on Salesforce from $395.00 to $325.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Wedbush restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $375.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Tuesday, February 24th. Finally, Wolfe Research reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have issued a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Salesforce currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $279.18.

Salesforce Stock Performance

CRM opened at $187.05 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $153.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.14. Salesforce Inc. has a 52-week low of $163.52 and a 52-week high of $296.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.76. The business's fifty day moving average is $186.70 and its 200-day moving average is $219.76.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.05 by $0.76. The firm had revenue of $11.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.18 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 15.38% and a net margin of 17.96%.The business's revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $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. Sell-side analysts expect that Salesforce Inc. will post 9.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 9th were issued a dividend of $0.44 per share. This is a positive change from Salesforce's previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 9th. Salesforce's dividend payout ratio is presently 22.54%.

Salesforce announced that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Monday, March 16th that permits the company to buyback $25.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the CRM provider to buy up to 14.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at Salesforce

In other news, Director David Blair Kirk acquired 2,570 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $194.62 per share, for a total transaction of $500,173.40. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 13,689 shares in the company, valued at $2,664,153.18. The trade was a 23.11% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Laura Alber acquired 2,571 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 19th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $194.58 per share, with a total value of $500,265.18. Following the acquisition, the director owned 9,530 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,854,347.40. This represents a 36.94% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 3.00% of the company's stock.

Key Stories Impacting Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Launch of Agentforce Operations — Salesforce rolled out Agentforce Operations, a suite of specialized AI agents designed to automate complex, cross-system back‑office workflows. Investors see this as a meaningful productization of AI that could expand higher‑margin services and drive upsell across large enterprise accounts. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Deeper Google Cloud & ChatGPT integrations — New Google Cloud workflow integrations and enhanced ChatGPT-for-CRM capabilities let automated agents operate across multiple enterprise systems and LLMs, which can accelerate real‑world adoption and make Salesforce’s AI story more defensible versus pure-play rivals. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst sentiment remains constructive — The average brokerage recommendation sits at “Buy,” and coverage notes the strategic pivot and product launches as catalysts that could justify upside versus current multiples. That endorsement supports near‑term demand for the stock. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Valuation check & comparisons — Several pieces assess CRM’s valuation vs. peers (including a CRM vs. SPOT comparison) and highlight that while upside exists from AI-driven revenue, the stock’s forward multiples require execution to justify a higher valuation. Useful for re‑rating scenarios, but not immediate catalysts. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Industry context — Coverage noting large tech layoffs and where AI economics live is background risk/benefit context; it matters to margins and adoption timing but is not Salesforce‑specific. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Intensifying competition — Reports emphasize escalating AI‑agent rivalry with Microsoft and ongoing cloud competition with Oracle; larger rivals could pressure win rates, pricing, or margin expansion if deals tilt toward hyperscalers. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Recent price weakness — Commentary notes a sizable YTD share decline (reflecting earnings, macro and re‑rating risk). That keeps investor sensitivity high: strong execution on Agentforce and integrations is required to sustain a re‑rating. Article Title

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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