Arizona State Retirement System Trims Stock Position in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Arizona State Retirement System lowered its stake in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 3.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 268,679 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 10,392 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $71,176,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of CRM. Marquette Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce during the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. Board of the Pension Protection Fund purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Key Capital Management INC purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Legacy Bridge LLC purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Finally, Texas Capital Bancshares Inc TX purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce during the 3rd quarter valued at about $28,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on Salesforce from $300.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. TD Cowen dropped their target price on Salesforce from $325.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Roth Mkm dropped their target price on Salesforce from $395.00 to $325.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Salesforce from $260.00 to $200.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Finally, Wolfe Research restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have issued a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $279.18.

Salesforce Trading Down 8.7%

CRM stock opened at $173.33 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. Salesforce Inc. has a 12-month low of $163.52 and a 12-month high of $296.05. The stock has a market cap of $141.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.19, a PEG ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.29. The business’s 50-day moving average is $187.44 and its 200 day moving average is $222.64.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 return on equity of 15.38% and a net margin of 17.96%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.78 EPS. 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, sell-side analysts anticipate that Salesforce Inc. will post 9.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 9th. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. This is an increase from Salesforce’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. Salesforce’s 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 outstanding 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 generally an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Salesforce News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce and Google Cloud expanded their partnership to enable AI agents that operate across both platforms, improving cross-product workflows (Slack, Google Workspace) and addressing data fragmentation—this supports long‑term AI revenue potential. Salesforce and Google Cloud Enable AI Agents to Act Across Both Platforms with Deep Context and End-to-End Workflows
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst/industry pieces highlight accelerating AI adoption at Salesforce—Agentforce ARR growth and strong usage metrics are cited as drivers that can offset legacy seat‑based risks. These fundamentals support a constructive medium-term thesis. Salesforce: AI Is A True Acceleration Driver, Not A Hollow Rebrand
• Positive Sentiment: Coverage noting a large buyback program and strategic partnerships (Google) bolsters the buy-and-hold case for investors focused on buybacks and AI monetization. Salesforce (CRM) Stock: Google Partnership, $25B Buyback, and What Analysts Are Saying
• Positive Sentiment: High-profile investors and commentators are showing support—Michael Burry has been building positions in software names, and Jim Cramer has advised holders not to sell at current prices—both lend behavioral support to buyers. Michael Burry plans to buy Salesforce stock for crucial reason Jim Cramer on Salesforce: “I Would Not Sell It at These Prices”
• Neutral Sentiment: Third‑party analyses (valuation-reset pieces, momentum screens, and Oracle comparisons) provide mixed views—some argue the valuation reset makes CRM attractive, others emphasize competitive risk. These are interpretive and influence sentiment more than fundamentals. Salesforce Valuation Reset: AI Growth, Low Debt, And A Much Higher Fair Value Case
• Neutral Sentiment: Montaka published an internal assessment on Salesforce; coverage of activist or hedge-fund views can increase short-term volatility but its direct impact depends on the assessment’s specifics. Here’s Montaka’s Internal Assessment on Salesforce (CRM)
• Negative Sentiment: Sector-wide panic after ServiceNow’s weak guidance has pressured enterprise software stocks broadly—this is the proximate cause of today’s selling, not company-specific bad news for Salesforce. Salesforce Stock Is Plummeting Today: What’s Happening?
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple outlets describe a “sector panic” that led to steep intraday drops in CRM and peers—momentum selling and cascading price-target cuts amplify downside even when individual company results remain solid. Salesforce Plummets 9% on Sector Panic. Is the Cloud Software King on Sale?
• Negative Sentiment: Piper Sandler reduced its price target citing rising AI competition in enterprise software; analyst downgrades/target cuts can exacerbate outflows and weigh on sentiment near-term. Salesforce, Inc. (CRM) PT Reduced as Piper Sandler Flags Rising AI Competition in Enterprise Software

Insider Activity at Salesforce

In related news, Director Laura Alber bought 2,571 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 19th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $194.58 per share, for a total transaction of $500,265.18. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 9,530 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,854,347.40. This trade represents a 36.94% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director David Blair Kirk bought 2,570 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were bought 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 owned 13,689 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,664,153.18. The trade was a 23.11% 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.

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.