Tredje AP fonden Acquires 58,170 Shares of Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Key Points

• Tredje AP fonden increased its Salesforce stake by 21.8% in the fourth quarter, buying 58,170 more shares and bringing its total holding to 324,873 shares worth about $86.1 million.
• Bank of America initiated coverage on Salesforce with an Underperform rating and a $160 price target, citing concerns that the company’s AI momentum may be fading.
• Despite mixed sentiment, Salesforce reported better-than-expected earnings for the latest quarter and also announced a $25 billion share repurchase plan along with a slightly higher quarterly dividend.

Tredje AP fonden raised its holdings in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 21.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 324,873 shares of the CRM provider's stock after acquiring an additional 58,170 shares during the period. Tredje AP fonden's holdings in Salesforce were worth $86,062,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Salesforce by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 89,843,166 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $23,800,353,000 after acquiring an additional 270,913 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in Salesforce by 0.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 49,420,657 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $11,732,966,000 after acquiring an additional 159,739 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its position in Salesforce by 9.4% during the third quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 20,051,119 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $4,753,519,000 after acquiring an additional 1,729,440 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 159.0% in the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 17,325,206 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $4,106,255,000 after purchasing an additional 10,636,161 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 11.8% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 7,155,512 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $1,695,856,000 after purchasing an additional 754,116 shares during the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Salesforce News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Negative Sentiment: Bank of America initiated coverage on Salesforce with an Underperform rating and a $160 price target, implying downside from current levels. The call raised concerns that the company’s AI narrative may be losing momentum and appears to be the most stock-moving headline for CRM today. Benzinga report on Bank of America coverage
• Negative Sentiment: Another market note highlighted Salesforce among software laggards that have been hit by broad sector selling, reinforcing the idea that investors remain cautious on the stock despite AI-related growth potential. Zacks commentary
• Neutral Sentiment: A separate analysis argued that Salesforce may still be attractive versus Oracle because of its steadier growth profile and cheaper valuation, offering a counterpoint to the bearish broker view. Zacks comparison article
• Neutral Sentiment: Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff also continued promoting the company’s AI efforts, saying Slack AI can surface employee concerns and decisions, which supports the long-term AI story but is not an immediate catalyst. Business Insider article
• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce also received a bullish longer-term mention as one of several AI-powered software laggards that could offer short-term upside, suggesting some investors still see value after the selloff. Zacks AI-powered laggards article

Salesforce Stock Performance

NYSE:CRM opened at $179.39 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $146.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.14. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $183.73 and its 200 day simple moving average is $214.85. Salesforce Inc. has a twelve month low of $163.52 and a twelve month high of $289.90. 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 (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.05 by $0.76. The business had revenue of $11.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $11.18 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 17.96% and a return on equity of 15.38%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business 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. As a group, research analysts predict that Salesforce Inc. will post 9.71 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 9th were given a dividend of $0.44 per share. This is an increase from Salesforce's previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 9th. Salesforce's payout ratio is 22.54%.

Salesforce declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Monday, March 16th that permits the company to buyback $25.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the CRM provider to reacquire up to 14.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. DA Davidson cut their target price on shares of Salesforce from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 27th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on shares of Salesforce from $375.00 to $250.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on shares of Salesforce from $300.00 to $250.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Northland Securities cut their target price on shares of Salesforce from $267.00 to $229.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 10th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada cut their target price on shares of Salesforce from $290.00 to $210.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have issued a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $274.56.

Insider Buying and Selling at Salesforce

In other news, Director David Blair Kirk acquired 2,570 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $194.62 per share, with a total value of $500,173.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 13,689 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,664,153.18. This represents a 23.11% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Laura Alber acquired 2,571 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 19th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $194.58 per share, with a total value of $500,265.18. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 9,530 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,854,347.40. This trade represents a 36.94% increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Company insiders own 3.50% of the company's stock.

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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