Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. Sells 13,004 Shares of Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. lessened its stake in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 4.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 302,030 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 13,004 shares during the quarter. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $80,082,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Board of the Pension Protection Fund bought a new position in shares of Salesforce in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Key Capital Management INC bought a new position in shares of Salesforce in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Legacy Bridge LLC bought a new position in shares of Salesforce in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Dogwood Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 285.7% in the fourth quarter. Dogwood Wealth Management LLC now owns 108 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Texas Capital Bancshares Inc TX bought a new position in shares of Salesforce in the third quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Stock Performance

Shares of Salesforce stock opened at $179.39 on Tuesday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $183.73 and its 200 day simple moving average is $214.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $146.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.14. Salesforce Inc. has a 12 month low of $163.52 and a 12 month high of $289.90. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last issued its quarterly 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 for 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%.Salesforce’s quarterly revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.78 earnings per share. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 13.110-13.190 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 3.110-3.130 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Salesforce Inc. will post 9.71 EPS for the current year.

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

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 9th were issued a dividend of $0.44 per share. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. This is an increase from Salesforce’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 9th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is 22.54%.

Trending Headlines about Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Negative Sentiment: Bank of America initiated coverage on Salesforce with an Underperform rating and a $160 price target, implying downside from current levels. The call raised concerns that the company’s AI narrative may be losing momentum and appears to be the most stock-moving headline for CRM today. Benzinga report on Bank of America coverage
• Negative Sentiment: Another market note highlighted Salesforce among software laggards that have been hit by broad sector selling, reinforcing the idea that investors remain cautious on the stock despite AI-related growth potential. Zacks commentary
• Neutral Sentiment: A separate analysis argued that Salesforce may still be attractive versus Oracle because of its steadier growth profile and cheaper valuation, offering a counterpoint to the bearish broker view. Zacks comparison article
• Neutral Sentiment: Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff also continued promoting the company’s AI efforts, saying Slack AI can surface employee concerns and decisions, which supports the long-term AI story but is not an immediate catalyst. Business Insider article
• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce also received a bullish longer-term mention as one of several AI-powered software laggards that could offer short-term upside, suggesting some investors still see value after the selloff. Zacks AI-powered laggards article

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director David Blair Kirk bought 2,570 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $194.62 per share, with a total value of $500,173.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 13,689 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,664,153.18. This represents a 23.11% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Laura Alber bought 2,571 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 19th. The stock was purchased at an average cost 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,854,347.40. The trade was a 36.94% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Company insiders own 3.50% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on CRM. Bank of America began coverage on Salesforce in a report on Monday. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $160.00 target price on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $281.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, February 26th. KeyCorp dropped their target price on Salesforce from $400.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. Mizuho dropped their target price on Salesforce from $280.00 to $265.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Salesforce from $365.00 to $320.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have issued a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Salesforce presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $274.56.

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.