M&T Bank Corp Lowers Position in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

M&T Bank Corp reduced its stake in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 8.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 146,083 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 13,601 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $34,622,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 0.8% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 89,572,253 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $21,228,624,000 after acquiring an additional 748,772 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 49,260,918 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $13,452,998,000 after acquiring an additional 776,300 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its position in shares of Salesforce by 9.4% during the 3rd quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 20,051,119 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $4,753,519,000 after purchasing an additional 1,729,440 shares during the period. Capital World Investors boosted its position in shares of Salesforce by 159.0% during the 3rd 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 period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Salesforce in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $2,826,049,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Salesforce

In related news, Director Neelie Kroes sold 3,893 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $238.70, for a total value of $929,259.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 7,299 shares in the company, valued at $1,742,271.30. The trade was a 34.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director David Blair Kirk purchased 1,936 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 17th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $258.64 per share, with a total value of $500,727.04. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 10,677 shares in the company, valued at $2,761,499.28. This represents a 22.15% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. 3.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Salesforce Stock Down 3.3%

Shares of NYSE CRM opened at $192.63 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $177.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.66, a PEG ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.29. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $210.48 and its 200-day simple moving average is $235.15. Salesforce Inc. has a 12-month low of $174.57 and a 12-month high of $296.05. 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 (NYSE:CRM) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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%.Salesforce’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. 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. As a group, equities analysts predict that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.44 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 9th. This is a positive change 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%. Salesforce’s payout ratio is currently 21.25%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CRM has been the topic of a number of research reports. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on Salesforce from $325.00 to $315.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. Mizuho dropped their price objective on Salesforce from $280.00 to $265.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Salesforce from $365.00 to $320.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 26th. TD Cowen lowered their target price on Salesforce from $325.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, DA Davidson dropped their target price on Salesforce from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 27th. One equities research 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $282.06.

Key Stories Impacting Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce is rolling out Agentforce, its contact-center-as-a-service push aimed at replacing fragmented contact-center stacks—this could deepen wallet-share with large enterprise customers and support growth in CRM-adjacent services. Salesforce Aims to End the ‘Frankenstein’ Contact Center With Agentforce
• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce added six Agentforce Health agents pre-wired with integrations for healthcare workflows—strengthens vertical product shelf and could accelerate adoption in a high-value industry. Salesforce Announces Six New Agentforce Health Agents Pre-Wired With Rich Integrations
• Positive Sentiment: Management intends to use net proceeds from the $25B senior-note offering to fund buybacks—this can be EPS-accretive and supports shareholder returns if repurchases are executed. Salesforce Prices Public Offering of Senior Notes
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst roundups following Salesforce’s fiscal Q4 results highlight mixed views—earnings beat and guidance were solid, but some analysts remain cautious on valuation and AI execution risk. What are Analysts Thinking of Salesforce (CRM) Following Fourth Quarter Fiscal 2026 Results?
• Neutral Sentiment: Formal notice that the $25B notes have been priced is a factual development—markets are focused on coupon levels and close conditions. Salesforce Prices Public Offering of Senior Notes
• Neutral Sentiment: Competitive ecosystem moves: LivePerson launched integrations that work with Salesforce, underscoring partner/competitor dynamics in conversational AI and contact-center orchestration. LivePerson Announces Event-driven Orchestration Partnership with Coral Active
• Negative Sentiment: Market commentary warns investors demanded higher yields on the bond sale—Zacks flags caution around rising leverage and AI uncertainty, which can pressure multiples and sentiment. Salesforce Taps Bonds for Buybacks as Investors Demand More Yield
• Negative Sentiment: Recent analyst downgrade(s) and at least one pessimistic price forecast have added selling pressure and negative sentiment near term. Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Stock Price Down 2% on Analyst Downgrade Northland Securities Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Stock Price

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.