APG Asset Management N.V. Raises Holdings in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

APG Asset Management N.V. lifted its holdings in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 3.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 624,913 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after buying an additional 18,983 shares during the quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. owned 0.07% of Salesforce worth $148,104,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of CRM. Aspire Growth Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Aspire Growth Partners LLC now owns 3,355 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $795,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. Lifeworks Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Salesforce by 2.9% in the second quarter. Lifeworks Advisors LLC now owns 1,420 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $387,000 after buying an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Benchmark Financial Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Salesforce by 4.4% during the 2nd quarter. Benchmark Financial Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 989 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $270,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares during the period. Abacus Planning Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Salesforce by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. Abacus Planning Group Inc. now owns 1,420 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $337,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares during the period. Finally, 17 Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter. 17 Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,321 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $633,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on CRM shares. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on Salesforce from $325.00 to $315.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $400.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday. BTIG Research dropped their target price on shares of Salesforce from $260.00 to $255.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on shares of Salesforce from $300.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have assigned 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, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $283.06.

Key Salesforce News

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q4 beat on profitability and AI traction — Non‑GAAP EPS came in at $3.81 (well above consensus) and management highlighted Agentforce/AI monetization as a growth driver, supporting the view that AI is adding commercial value. Revenue In Line With Expectations
• Positive Sentiment: Big capital‑return program — Salesforce raised its dividend and authorized a $50B buyback, signaling management confidence and improving EPS leverage if executed. That buyback is a clear near‑term support for the share price. AI Bet & Buyback
• Neutral Sentiment: Long‑term targets updated — Management lifted multiyear ambitions (targeting roughly $63B revenue by FY2030) and kept FY27 EPS guidance in a tight range; this supports the long‑term bull case but leaves near‑term pacing ambiguous. FY30 Target & Guidance
• Negative Sentiment: Near‑term guidance and metrics disappointed some — cRPO and other cloud momentum measures were only in‑line, and commentary implied a mid‑year slowdown before AI‑driven reacceleration, which hurt investor confidence. Jefferies on Near‑Term Slowdown
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst cuts and mixed ratings — Several banks trimmed price targets (examples: Sanford Bernstein, TD Cowen, RBC, BMO, Barclays, DA Davidson) or issued neutral/underperform stances, increasing short‑term selling pressure as models were reset. Analyst Revisions
• Negative Sentiment: Investor skepticism over AI impact persists — Coverage highlights that some investors still worry AI could compress SaaS economics despite management’s assurances, creating continued volatility in CRM shares. 3 Reasons Earnings Failed to Impress

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Salesforce news, Director David Blair Kirk bought 1,936 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 17th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $258.64 per share, for a total transaction of $500,727.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 10,677 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,761,499.28. This represents a 22.15% increase in their position. The acquisition 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 firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $238.70, for a total value of $929,259.10. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 7,299 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,742,271.30. The trade was a 34.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 3.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Salesforce Price Performance

NYSE:CRM opened at $194.47 on Friday. Salesforce Inc. has a 12-month low of $174.57 and a 12-month high of $303.07. The firm has a market cap of $182.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.27. The company’s 50-day moving average is $223.98 and its two-hundred day moving average is $238.37. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted 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 15.28%. The business had revenue of $11.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.18 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.78 earnings per share. The company’s 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. Research analysts expect that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 9th will be given a $0.44 dividend. This is an increase from Salesforce’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 9th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.25%.

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.