Fernbridge Capital Management LP Acquires 322,249 Shares of Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Fernbridge Capital Management LP boosted its holdings in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 22.4% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 1,759,109 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 322,249 shares during the quarter. Salesforce accounts for 20.3% of Fernbridge Capital Management LP’s holdings, making the stock its largest holding. Fernbridge Capital Management LP’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $416,909,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of CRM. Aspire Growth Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 1.2% in the third quarter. Aspire Growth Partners LLC now owns 3,355 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $795,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. Abacus Planning Group Inc. boosted its stake in Salesforce by 3.1% during the third quarter. Abacus Planning Group Inc. now owns 1,420 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $337,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. 17 Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in Salesforce by 1.9% during the second quarter. 17 Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,321 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $633,000 after buying an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Code Waechter LLC grew its holdings in Salesforce by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter. Code Waechter LLC now owns 871 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $209,000 after buying an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital A Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Salesforce by 40.9% in the 2nd quarter. Capital A Wealth Management LLC now owns 155 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on CRM. Wolfe Research reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, January 15th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Salesforce from $235.00 to $210.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 26th. TD Cowen dropped their price target on shares of Salesforce from $325.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, Arete Research upgraded shares of Salesforce to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have given a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $282.06.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director David Blair Kirk purchased 1,936 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 17th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $258.64 per share, for a total transaction of $500,727.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 10,677 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,761,499.28. This represents a 22.15% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Neelie Kroes sold 3,893 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction 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 sale, the director directly owned 7,299 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,742,271.30. The trade was 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 corporate insiders.

Salesforce Trading Down 3.3%

Shares of CRM stock opened at $192.63 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The firm has a market cap of $177.80 billion, a PE ratio of 24.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a 50-day moving average of $210.48 and a two-hundred day moving average of $235.15. Salesforce Inc. has a 1-year low of $174.57 and a 1-year high of $296.05.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.05 by $0.76. Salesforce had a net margin of 17.96% and a return on equity of 15.38%. The business had revenue of $11.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.18 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.78 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 13.110-13.190 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 3.110-3.130 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.44 per share. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. This is a positive change from Salesforce’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 9th. Salesforce’s payout ratio is currently 21.25%.

Salesforce News Roundup

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

About Salesforce

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.