Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. Purchases 8,182 Shares of Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its position in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 2.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 420,044 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,182 shares during the quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co.’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $111,274,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in CRM. Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co lifted its holdings in Salesforce by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co now owns 263,519 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $69,809,000 after purchasing an additional 3,000 shares in the last quarter. Houlihan Financial Resource Group Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Salesforce by 116.1% in the fourth quarter. Houlihan Financial Resource Group Ltd. now owns 11,298 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $2,746,000 after purchasing an additional 6,071 shares during the period. Beckerman Institutional LLC bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the 4th quarter valued at $278,000. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Salesforce by 8.5% during the 4th quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 96,236 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $25,494,000 after purchasing an additional 7,532 shares during the period. Finally, Baker Avenue Asset Management LP raised its position in shares of Salesforce by 14.1% during the 4th quarter. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP now owns 74,613 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $19,766,000 after purchasing an additional 9,195 shares during the period. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CRM has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. KeyCorp decreased their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $300.00 to $290.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Citigroup restated a “market outperform” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $365.00 to $320.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $225.00 to $215.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on Salesforce from $300.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have issued a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Salesforce currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $257.97.

Insider Activity at Salesforce

In other news, Director Laura Alber acquired 2,571 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 acquisition, 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. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director David Blair Kirk acquired 2,570 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $194.62 per share, for a total transaction of $500,173.40. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 13,689 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,664,153.18. This represents a 23.11% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. 3.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Trending Headlines about Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce beat fiscal Q1 expectations, with revenue rising 13% year over year to $11.13 billion and EPS of $3.88 topping estimates, reinforcing that demand remains healthy. CRM Q1 Earnings Top Estimates, Revenues Rise Y/Y on ARR Milestone
• Positive Sentiment: The company said Agentforce annual recurring revenue crossed $1 billion and lifted FY2027 revenue guidance, suggesting its AI products are starting to contribute meaningfully to growth. Salesforce raises FY 2027 revenue guide to $45.9B-$46.2B while launching $25B accelerated share repurchase
• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce announced a $25 billion accelerated share repurchase program and highlighted $6.6 billion in free cash flow, signaling strong cash generation and shareholder returns. Salesforce Announces Quarterly Dividend
• Positive Sentiment: New customer and partner headlines, including CVS Health expanding use of Salesforce’s Agentforce Health, support the view that the company’s AI platform is gaining traction. CVS Health to Deliver Faster, More Personalized Call Center Care for Millions of Members with Salesforce’s Agentforce Health
• Neutral Sentiment: Several analysts remained constructive, but many trimmed price targets after the report, reflecting a more cautious stance on near-term upside. Salesforce Q1 Results ‘Uninspiring’: ‘Nothing To Dispel The AI Threat Narrative’
• Negative Sentiment: Investors were disappointed by Q2 revenue guidance, which came in slightly below expectations, keeping the stock under pressure despite the earnings beat. CRM Stock Dips After-Hours As Q2 Revenue Outlook Marginally Misses Expectations
• Negative Sentiment: Bearish commentary continues to focus on the risk that AI agents could eventually disrupt Salesforce’s core revenue model, which is weighing on sentiment. Analyst warns Salesforce has an AI problem

Salesforce Trading Up 8.4%

CRM stock opened at $191.00 on Friday. Salesforce Inc. has a 1-year low of $163.52 and a 1-year high of $276.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The company has a market capitalization of $156.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.11, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.14. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $180.77 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $210.58.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 27th. The CRM provider reported $3.88 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.13 by $0.75. Salesforce had a return on equity of 18.72% and a net margin of 18.73%.The business had revenue of $11.13 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.05 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.58 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 14.060-14.120 EPS and its Q2 2027 guidance at 3.250-3.270 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Salesforce Inc. will post 9.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.44 per share. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 11th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is 22.54%.

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