First Trust Advisors LP Acquires 688,991 Shares of Salesforce Inc. $CRM

First Trust Advisors LP raised its holdings in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 25.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,362,464 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 688,991 shares during the quarter. Salesforce comprises 0.6% of First Trust Advisors LP’s portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest position. First Trust Advisors LP owned approximately 0.35% of Salesforce worth $796,904,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of CRM. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 89,572,253 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $21,228,624,000 after purchasing an additional 748,772 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Salesforce by 1.6% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 49,260,918 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $13,452,998,000 after purchasing an additional 776,300 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Salesforce by 0.6% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 20,873,900 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $5,669,224,000 after purchasing an additional 114,504 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Salesforce in the second quarter valued at about $2,826,049,000. Finally, Amundi lifted its stake in Salesforce by 26.2% in the second quarter. Amundi now owns 7,755,317 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,087,545,000 after buying an additional 1,612,413 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

More Salesforce News

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Recent earnings and market reaction — Salesforce reported an earnings beat and record revenue, and the stock has rebounded from recent lows as investors appear to be looking past worst‑case AI fears. This is the main driver of improving sentiment. Salesforce: A Week After Earnings, the Market Has Spoken
• Positive Sentiment: Large buyback and cash flow strength — Analysts highlight a meaningful free cash flow beat and Salesforce’s announcement of a massive $50B buyback, which can materially support share price and EPS over time. Salesforce: AI Disruption Fears Create Mispricing
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst upgrades and bullish price targets — Multiple firms have reiterated or raised ratings (e.g., Phillip Securities maintained a Buy with a $253 target), helping lift investor confidence. Upgrades/price‑target moves are directly supportive of the rally. Phillip Securities Maintains a Buy on Salesforce (CRM)
• Positive Sentiment: Product/AI momentum and partnerships — New AI initiatives (Agentforce) and a Formula 1 fan‑agent rollout show tangible go‑to‑market AI use cases that support long‑term monetization of AI features. Salesforce Inc. (CRM) Leverages AI to Transform Fan and Customer Engagement
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst/industry writeups highlight momentum and valuation — Several outlets (Zacks) list Salesforce among software names positioned to benefit from a sector recovery; these articles boost visibility but provide less immediate price impact than earnings or buybacks. The Software Recovery Already Started: 5 Stocks to Buy Now
• Neutral Sentiment: Geographic expansion — Reports noting the Philippines as a fast‑growing market signal incremental revenue opportunities but are less likely to move the stock near term. Philippines fastest-growing market for Salesforce in Southeast Asia
• Negative Sentiment: Ongoing AI disruption and valuation concerns — Despite improving signals, investors remain wary that AI could compress demand or enable lower‑cost competitors; the stock still reflects a material YTD and 1‑year decline, keeping downside risk present. Is Salesforce (CRM) Pricing Reflect Its Cash Flow Outlook After Recent Share Price Weakness

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Salesforce news, Director David Blair Kirk acquired 1,936 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 17th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $258.64 per share, with a total value of $500,727.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 10,677 shares in the company, valued at $2,761,499.28. This trade represents a 22.15% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, 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 transaction, the director owned 7,299 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,742,271.30. The trade was a 34.78% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Corporate insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of CRM stock opened at $202.04 on Friday. Salesforce Inc. has a 12-month low of $174.57 and a 12-month high of $296.05. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $217.21 and a 200-day moving average of $236.92. The company has a market capitalization of $186.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.87, a P/E/G ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.29.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.05 by $0.76. The firm had revenue of $11.20 billion during 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 company’s revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $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. As a group, equities 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 9th will be given a dividend of $0.44 per share. This is an increase from Salesforce’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 9th. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. Salesforce’s payout ratio is currently 21.25%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CRM has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Wall Street Zen raised Salesforce from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 28th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $260.00 to $200.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. TD Cowen lowered their target price on shares of Salesforce from $325.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Northland Securities increased their target price on shares of Salesforce from $264.00 to $267.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 4th. Finally, Evercore reduced their price target on shares of Salesforce from $360.00 to $340.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $283.14.

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.