Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. Grows Stake in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. increased its stake in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 8.3% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 110,545 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after buying an additional 8,464 shares during the quarter. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc.’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $29,284,000 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 the stock. Aspire Growth Partners LLC grew its position in Salesforce by 1.2% in the third quarter. Aspire Growth Partners LLC now owns 3,355 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $795,000 after acquiring an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC grew its position in Salesforce by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC now owns 4,331 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,147,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Mathes Company Inc. grew its position in Salesforce by 0.4% in the third quarter. Mathes Company Inc. now owns 12,558 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $2,976,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC grew its position in Salesforce by 0.3% in the third quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 14,943 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $3,548,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Beacon Capital Management LLC grew its position in Salesforce by 3.5% in the third quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,372 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $325,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CRM has been the subject of several research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Salesforce from $365.00 to $320.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Northland Securities cut their price target on shares of Salesforce from $267.00 to $229.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 10th. Mizuho cut their price target on shares of Salesforce from $280.00 to $265.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Salesforce from $398.00 to $287.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $274.56.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director David Blair Kirk bought 2,570 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were bought at an average price of $194.62 per share, for a total transaction of $500,173.40. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 13,689 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,664,153.18. This trade represents a 23.11% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Laura Alber bought 2,571 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 19th. The stock was bought at an average price of $194.58 per share, for a total transaction of $500,265.18. Following the acquisition, the director directly 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. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Corporate insiders own 3.50% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Enterprise software stocks are rallying broadly as investors rotate back into the group after recent pressure tied to fears that AI agents could disrupt traditional SaaS models. Salesforce is benefiting from that sector-wide rebound. From ServiceNow to Salesforce: why are software stocks rallying today?
• Positive Sentiment: Some commentary still views Salesforce as an attractive blue-chip software holding, citing AI-related growth prospects and a relatively reasonable valuation versus peers like Oracle. Buy 5 Blue-Chip Stocks to Enhance Your Portfolio Returns in 2026
• Neutral Sentiment: Salesforce’s AI push remains a key debate on Wall Street. Bank of America restarted coverage with an Underperform rating and a $160 price target, warning that AI may pressure Salesforce’s legacy CRM model and make monetization harder. BofA resets Salesforce stock price target with sobering AI verdict
• Neutral Sentiment: Other coverage is also focused on whether Salesforce can prove its AI strategy is working, with investors watching for evidence that Agentforce and related products can offset concerns about slower long-term growth. Software’s “Baby with the Bathwater” Moment
• Negative Sentiment: Market commentary also highlights Salesforce’s recent weakness and the argument that AI disruption could keep investors cautious until growth re-accelerates. Is It Time To Reconsider Salesforce (CRM) After This Year’s 32% Share Price Slide?

Salesforce Price Performance

CRM stock opened at $179.46 on Wednesday. Salesforce Inc. has a 1 year low of $163.52 and a 1 year high of $288.44. The company has a market cap of $146.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.98, a PEG ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.14. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $183.27 and a 200 day moving average of $214.34. 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 (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, topping 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 company had revenue of $11.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.18 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.78 earnings per share. Salesforce’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, sell-side analysts forecast that Salesforce Inc. will post 9.71 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

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

Salesforce declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Monday, March 16th that allows the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the CRM provider to purchase up to 14.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are 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.