Salesforce Inc. $CRM Shares Acquired by Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co

Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co boosted its position in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 1.2% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 263,519 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,000 shares during the period. Salesforce accounts for 0.6% of Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest position. Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $69,809,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of CRM. Byrne Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Salesforce by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC now owns 4,331 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,147,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Mathes Company Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Mathes Company Inc. now owns 12,558 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $2,976,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC lifted its stake in Salesforce by 0.3% during the third quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 14,943 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $3,548,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Salesforce by 3.5% during the third quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,372 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $325,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fulcrum Asset Management LLP boosted its holdings in Salesforce by 1.7% during the third quarter. Fulcrum Asset Management LLP now owns 2,774 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $657,000 after buying an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Key Salesforce News

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce beat Q1 earnings and revenue estimates, raised full-year profit guidance, and said Agentforce ARR passed $1 billion, reinforcing momentum in its AI strategy.
• Positive Sentiment: The company announced a $25 billion accelerated buyback, which should provide direct support to shareholder returns and may help limit downside.
• Positive Sentiment: Several analysts remained constructive, with firms like Wedbush, Piper Sandler, Cantor Fitzgerald, and B. Riley reiterating bullish ratings and high price targets despite trimming estimates.
• Neutral Sentiment: Citigroup and other banks lowered price targets modestly, but most still kept neutral-to-positive views, suggesting the Street is resetting expectations rather than turning outright bearish.
• Negative Sentiment: The stock is being held back by slightly light revenue guidance and continued investor concern that AI competition could pressure Salesforce’s growth profile over time.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have issued reports on CRM shares. TD Cowen decreased their price target on shares of Salesforce from $250.00 to $240.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. DA Davidson decreased their price target on shares of Salesforce from $200.00 to $175.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Northland Securities decreased their price target on shares of Salesforce from $267.00 to $229.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 10th. Piper Sandler lowered shares of Salesforce from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Citigroup restated a “market outperform” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have given a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $259.47.

Insider Activity at Salesforce

In other news, Director Laura Alber acquired 2,571 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 19th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $194.58 per share, for a total transaction of $500,265.18. Following the transaction, the director 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director David Blair Kirk acquired 2,570 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $194.62 per share, for a total transaction of $500,173.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 13,689 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,664,153.18. This represents a 23.11% increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Insiders own 3.50% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Trading Down 0.7%

NYSE CRM opened at $176.30 on Friday. Salesforce Inc. has a twelve month low of $163.52 and a twelve month high of $276.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.76. The stock has a market cap of $144.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.41, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.14. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $180.84 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $210.72.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 27th. The CRM provider reported $3.88 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.13 by $0.75. Salesforce had a net margin of 18.73% and a return on equity of 16.70%. The firm had revenue of $11.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.05 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.58 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 14.060-14.120 EPS and its Q2 2027 guidance at 3.250-3.270 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Salesforce Inc. will post 9.72 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 11th will be given a dividend of $0.44 per share. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 11th. Salesforce’s payout ratio is presently 22.54%.

Salesforce announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Monday, March 16th that authorizes the company to buyback $25.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the CRM provider to buy up to 14.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

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.