Global X Japan Co. Ltd. Increases Stock Position in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Global X Japan Co. Ltd. grew its stake in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 273.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 19,710 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after buying an additional 14,430 shares during the period. Global X Japan Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $5,221,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CRM. Aspire Growth Partners LLC raised its position in Salesforce by 1.2% during 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. lifted its stake in Salesforce by 3.1% in the third quarter. Abacus Planning Group Inc. now owns 1,420 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $337,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Salesforce by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC now owns 4,331 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,147,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Code Waechter LLC increased its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 5.3% in the third quarter. Code Waechter LLC now owns 871 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $209,000 after buying an additional 44 shares during the period. Finally, Capital A Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Salesforce by 40.9% during the 2nd quarter. Capital A Wealth Management LLC now owns 155 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the period. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently commented on CRM shares. 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 research note on Thursday, February 26th. DA Davidson decreased their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Canaccord Genuity Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $300.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, December 4th. Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their price target on Salesforce from $223.00 to $194.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on Salesforce from $340.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. 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 assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Salesforce presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $280.21.

Salesforce Stock Up 2.0%

Shares of Salesforce stock opened at $185.56 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $171.27 billion, a PE ratio of 23.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.32 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. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $199.36 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $231.38. Salesforce Inc. has a 52-week low of $174.57 and a 52-week high of $296.05.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its 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 business had revenue of $11.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.18 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 15.38% and a net margin of 17.96%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company 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. On average, analysts anticipate that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 9th will be paid a $0.44 dividend. This is a boost from Salesforce’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 9th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.54%.

Salesforce declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Monday, March 16th that authorizes the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the CRM provider to repurchase up to 14.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Key Stories Impacting Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Major customer and government deployments of Agentforce (AI contact-center/agentic platform) provide revenue proof-points and credibility for Salesforce’s AI monetization — the U.S. Dept. of Labor and the Veterans Health Administration announced rollouts that expand addressable market and showcase large-scale, sticky deployments. U.S. Department of Labor Taps Agentforce
• Positive Sentiment: Adecco and other enterprise customers adopting Agentforce/Agentforce Voice signal cross-industry traction for Salesforce’s AI CRM, supporting revenue upside and ARR growth for AI products. Institutional client rollouts help convert product announcements into recurring revenue. Salesforce Lands DoL Deal To Power AI Agent ‘DOLA’
• Positive Sentiment: Large buyback and capital-return narrative: analysis pieces highlight Salesforce’s $50B repurchase program (including $25B accelerated repurchase) and management’s use of buybacks plus solid free cash flow — this reduces share count and supports EPS, a clear positive for investors. Salesforce: Billions Of Reasons To Own
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst coverage remains largely positive (≈75% Buy) with a $255 consensus target cited — that supports medium-term upside expectations but is tempered by varying price targets. Analyst optimism may cushion downside but won’t eliminate volatility. Analysts Bullish on Salesforce (CRM) Amid New AI Launches and Insider Purchases
• Neutral Sentiment: Cost-cutting and pay adjustments (skip raises for director-level and above, targeted layoffs <1,000) boost near-term margins but signal management balancing growth investments vs. profitability; effect depends on how reinvestment in AI proceeds. Salesforce Resets Executive Pay And Leadership As Shares Trade Below Targets
• Negative Sentiment: An analyst price-target cut reduced a key target by ~10.8% (to 278.01), which can pressure sentiment and trigger short-term selling or re-rating by funds that track targets. Salesforce (CRM) price target decreased by 10.84% to 278.01
• Negative Sentiment: Sector-wide weakness: commentary that software stocks have entered a near-term bear market increases macro selling risk for growth/AI-exposed names and can drag CRM even if company-specific fundamentals remain solid. Software Stocks Have Entered a Bear Market. Is This the End of the AI Trade, or Just the Beginning?
• Negative Sentiment: Coverage noting AI concerns and investor caution has contributed to pullbacks in sentiment, particularly among traders worried about AI disruption risks and valuation compression. Salesforce (CRM) Declined on AI Concerns but Remains a Mission-Critical Enterprise Platform

Insider Activity

In other Salesforce news, Director David Blair Kirk purchased 2,570 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $194.62 per share, with a total value of $500,173.40. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 13,689 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,664,153.18. This trade represents a 23.11% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Laura Alber bought 2,571 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 19th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $194.58 per share, with a total value of $500,265.18. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 9,530 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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. 3.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.