Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd Raises Position in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd boosted its position in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 5.1% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 275,577 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after buying an additional 13,445 shares during the quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $65,312,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in CRM. Capital World Investors grew its stake 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 acquiring an additional 10,636,161 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Salesforce in the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,826,049,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Salesforce by 27,361.5% during the second quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,424,169 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $933,737,000 after purchasing an additional 3,411,700 shares during the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Salesforce during the third quarter valued at about $484,852,000. Finally, Alyeska Investment Group L.P. lifted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 285.4% during the 3rd quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 2,487,627 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $589,568,000 after buying an additional 1,842,117 shares in the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Neelie Kroes sold 3,893 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the director directly owned 7,299 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,742,271.30. This trade represents a 34.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director David Blair Kirk bought 2,570 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were bought at an average price of $194.62 per share, with a total value of $500,173.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 13,689 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,664,153.18. The trade was a 23.11% increase in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Company insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Stock Down 0.4%

Shares of NYSE:CRM opened at $194.47 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $206.53 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $233.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.76. Salesforce Inc. has a one year low of $174.57 and a one year high of $296.05. The company has a market cap of $179.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.90, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.29.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.05 by $0.76. The firm had revenue of $11.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.18 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 17.96% and a return on equity of 15.38%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business 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. Analysts anticipate that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase program on Monday, March 16th that authorizes the company to buyback $25.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the CRM provider to purchase up to 14.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The firm 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. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 9th. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. This is an increase from Salesforce’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is currently 21.25%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on CRM. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $400.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $250.00 price target (down from $280.00) on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Roth Mkm decreased their price objective on Salesforce from $395.00 to $325.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Salesforce from $398.00 to $287.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $280.21.

Salesforce News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Board authorized a $25 billion share repurchase program and initiated an accelerated buyback, signaling management confidence and likely near?term support for the stock. Stock Buyback Plan Initiated by Salesforce
• Positive Sentiment: Strong product momentum from Agentic AI, Agentforce and Data Cloud is driving higher bookings and revenue growth prospects — a core reason bulls expect reacceleration in CRM’s top line. Salesforce’s Agentic AI Push
• Positive Sentiment: Partnership with NVIDIA to embed AI agents into workflows strengthens Salesforce’s go?to?market for AI features and could accelerate adoption across enterprise customers. Salesforce Teams with NVIDIA
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst commentary remains mixed-to-supportive: some firms reiterated buy ratings on the capital allocation strategy, but views differ on risk/reward given the new leverage. Buy Rating on Capital Allocation
• Neutral Sentiment: Third?party comparisons and coverage pieces (e.g., head?to?head with smaller rivals) are airing but aren’t driving material moves relative to the buyback/debt story. Unitronix vs Salesforce Comparison
• Negative Sentiment: The $25 billion accelerated share repurchase and $6 billion term loan are largely debt?funded (multi?tranche senior notes and refinancing), materially changing Salesforce’s capital structure and raising concerns about leverage, interest expense and long?dated maturities. That shift is the main near?term bearish catalyst. Bull Case Could Change After Debt-Funded Buyback

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.