Legal & General Group Plc trimmed its position in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM – Free Report) by 0.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,559,371 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 31,749 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $1,737,643,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Salesforce by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 89,843,166 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $23,800,353,000 after acquiring an additional 270,913 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Salesforce by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 49,420,657 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $11,732,966,000 after acquiring an additional 159,739 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its holdings in Salesforce by 9.4% in the 3rd quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 20,051,119 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $4,753,519,000 after acquiring an additional 1,729,440 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its holdings in Salesforce by 159.0% in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in Salesforce by 11.8% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 7,155,512 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,695,856,000 after acquiring an additional 754,116 shares in the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Salesforce Trading Up 0.1%
Shares of CRM opened at $180.32 on Monday. 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 1 year low of $163.52 and a 1 year high of $280.74. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $182.26 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $212.64. The firm has a market cap of $147.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.14.
Salesforce declared that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Monday, March 16th that permits the company to buyback $25.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the CRM provider to purchase up to 14.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on shares of Salesforce from $375.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $375.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Salesforce in a report on Friday. Truist Financial set a $280.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, DA Davidson cut their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have given a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $274.12.
View Our Latest Stock Report on Salesforce
Insider Buying and Selling
In other news, Director David Blair Kirk bought 2,570 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $194.62 per share, for a total transaction of $500,173.40. Following 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 purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Laura Alber bought 2,571 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 19th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $194.58 per share, with a total value of $500,265.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 9,530 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,854,347.40. The trade was a 36.94% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. 3.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.
Key Salesforce News
Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:
- Positive Sentiment: Salesforce announced an expanded collaboration with Cint to deliver next-generation AI-powered support through Slack, reinforcing the company’s push into agentic enterprise workflows and AI-driven automation. Cint and Salesforce to Deliver the Next Generation of AI-Powered Support
- Positive Sentiment: Several analyst- and media-driven pieces highlighted Salesforce as an attractive AI and software value play, with commentary pointing to strong upside potential and expectations that Q1 results may benefit from continued digital transformation and generative AI adoption. Salesforce Likely to Beat Q1 Earnings Estimates: Time to Buy the Stock?
- Positive Sentiment: Wall Street price-target articles continue to suggest meaningful upside for CRM, with analysts’ average target implying a large gain from current levels and some firms still keeping bullish ratings. Does Salesforce (CRM) Have the Potential to Rally 53.21% as Wall Street Analysts Expect?
- Neutral Sentiment: Salesforce granted 64,296 RSUs to 27 employees tied to the Cimulate acquisition; this is routine retention-related equity compensation and is not likely to materially move the stock on its own. Salesforce Grants Equity Awards to Cimulate Under Its Inducement Equity Incentive Plan
- Neutral Sentiment: Investors are also focused on Salesforce’s upcoming earnings release and expected post-earnings volatility, which adds uncertainty but no clear directional catalyst yet. Here’s How Much Traders Expect Salesforce Stock Could Move After Earnings
- Negative Sentiment: UBS flagged a mixed enterprise software spending backdrop and said it sees limited signs of near-term acceleration in bookings, which may be weighing on sentiment into earnings. Salesforce faces tough enterprise software backdrop heading into earnings, says UBS
- Negative Sentiment: Bank of America reiterated an Underperform rating with a $160 target, signaling that some analysts remain cautious on the stock despite Salesforce’s strong market position. BofA Maintains Underperform Rating on Salesforce (CRM)
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.
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