APG Asset Management US Inc. Grows Position in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

APG Asset Management US Inc. raised its position in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 30.7% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 44,606 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,467 shares during the quarter. APG Asset Management US Inc.’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $10,513,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Trivium Point Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in Salesforce by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Trivium Point Advisory LLC now owns 12,574 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,980,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares during the period. Rafferty Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Salesforce by 3.8% during the third quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 344,945 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $81,752,000 after purchasing an additional 12,492 shares during the last quarter. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 19.6% during the third quarter. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. now owns 102,081 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $24,193,000 after purchasing an additional 16,740 shares during the period. Argent Trust Co grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 4.2% in the third quarter. Argent Trust Co now owns 28,136 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $6,668,000 after purchasing an additional 1,133 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 97.3% in the third quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 4,302 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,020,000 after purchasing an additional 2,122 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CRM has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $223.00 to $194.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on shares of Salesforce from $340.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price target on Salesforce from $290.00 to $210.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Salesforce from $365.00 to $320.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday. One research 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 issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $283.06.

Salesforce Price Performance

Shares of CRM stock opened at $194.47 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $223.98 and its 200 day moving average is $238.37. Salesforce Inc. has a 1-year low of $174.57 and a 1-year high of $303.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The company has a market cap of $182.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.90, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.27.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.78 earnings per share. The company’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. Research analysts predict that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

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

Salesforce News Roundup

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

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Neelie Kroes sold 3,893 shares of the 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 in the company, valued at approximately $1,742,271.30. This represents a 34.78% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director G Mason Morfit acquired 96,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 5th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $260.58 per share, with a total value of $25,015,680.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 2,994,509 shares in the company, valued at approximately $780,309,155.22. This represents a 3.31% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. 3.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.