California Public Employees Retirement System Boosts Position in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

California Public Employees Retirement System lifted its holdings in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 26.5% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 2,502,236 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 524,345 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $593,030,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CRM. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in Salesforce during the 2nd quarter valued at $27,000. Marquette Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the 3rd quarter worth about $26,000. Texas Capital Bancshares Inc TX bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the 3rd quarter valued at about $28,000. Country Trust Bank boosted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 658.8% during the 2nd quarter. Country Trust Bank now owns 129 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 112 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kilter Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce during the second quarter valued at about $42,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CRM has been the subject of a number of research reports. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Salesforce from $197.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on Salesforce from $340.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 4th. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their target price on Salesforce from $290.00 to $210.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have issued a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Salesforce presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $282.06.

Salesforce Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CRM opened at $192.63 on Friday. Salesforce Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $174.57 and a fifty-two week high of $296.05. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $210.48 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $235.09. The company has a market capitalization of $177.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.66, a P/E/G ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.76.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.05 by $0.76. The firm 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. Analysts expect that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 9th will be issued 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 of this dividend is Thursday, April 9th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is presently 22.54%.

Key Headlines 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

Insider Buying and Selling at Salesforce

In other news, Director David Blair Kirk purchased 1,936 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 17th. The shares were bought at an average price of $258.64 per share, for a total transaction of $500,727.04. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 10,677 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,761,499.28. This trade represents a 22.15% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Neelie Kroes sold 3,893 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $238.70, for a total transaction of $929,259.10. Following the sale, the director owned 7,299 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,742,271.30. This represents a 34.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 3.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.