Handelsbanken Fonder AB Lowers Holdings in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Handelsbanken Fonder AB reduced its stake in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 8.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 357,013 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 32,753 shares during the quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $84,612,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Rockland Trust Co. increased its stake in shares of Salesforce by 1,145.6% in the 3rd quarter. Rockland Trust Co. now owns 13,066 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $3,097,000 after purchasing an additional 12,017 shares in the last quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Salesforce by 98.3% during the third quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 21,455 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $5,085,000 after purchasing an additional 10,633 shares in the last quarter. Midwest Trust Co grew its holdings in Salesforce by 2.3% in the third quarter. Midwest Trust Co now owns 187,071 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $44,336,000 after purchasing an additional 4,233 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 15.1% in the third quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 467,551 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $113,420,000 after buying an additional 61,270 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AGF Management Ltd. increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 42.2% in the third quarter. AGF Management Ltd. now owns 281,054 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $66,610,000 after buying an additional 83,403 shares in the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on CRM. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on Salesforce from $300.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Citizens Jmp reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $430.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a report on Tuesday, December 2nd. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $400.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday. DA Davidson upped their price target on shares of Salesforce from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 5th. Finally, TD Cowen decreased their price target on shares of Salesforce from $325.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have issued a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $284.06.

Salesforce Price Performance

NYSE:CRM opened at $199.38 on Friday. Salesforce Inc. has a one year low of $174.57 and a one year high of $304.92. The stock has a market cap of $186.82 billion, a PE ratio of 25.53, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.98. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $225.28 and a 200 day moving average price of $238.59.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.05 by $0.76. Salesforce had a return on equity of 15.28% and a net margin of 17.96%.The company had revenue of $11.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.18 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.78 EPS. The firm’s quarterly 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. Equities research analysts expect that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 9th will be given a dividend of $0.44 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 9th. This is an increase from Salesforce’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 22.16%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director G Mason Morfit purchased 96,000 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 5th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $260.58 per share, with a total value of $25,015,680.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 2,994,509 shares in the company, valued at $780,309,155.22. This represents a 3.31% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director David Blair Kirk acquired 1,936 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 17th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $258.64 per share, for a total transaction of $500,727.04. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 10,677 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,761,499.28. The trade was a 22.15% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Company insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Key Salesforce News

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q4 results beat on profit and showed decent top‑line growth (non‑GAAP EPS $3.81; revenue +12% Y/Y), underscoring operational leverage. Zacks: Q4 Earnings Beat
• Positive Sentiment: Management authorized a $50 billion share‑buyback and raised the cash return profile (also a 5.8% dividend increase) — strong capital return that supports EPS and investor confidence. CNBC: $50B Buybacks
• Positive Sentiment: Company reiterated AI/Agentforce momentum and raised its FY2030 revenue ambition to ~$63B, signaling conviction in long‑term AI monetization. Seeking Alpha: $63B Target & Agentforce
• Positive Sentiment: Several bullish analysts (e.g., Wedbush) reiterated positive views, calling Salesforce a long‑term AI beneficiary — supporting a recovery narrative. Investopedia: Wedbush Views
• Neutral Sentiment: Guidance was mixed: EPS guidance for FY‑2027 came in above consensus, but some revenue pacing and seasonality left investors seeking clearer acceleration—a two‑sided data point. Reuters: Guidance Context
• Neutral Sentiment: Market reaction is being shaped by technical and sentiment dynamics across the SaaS group (sectorwide “SaaSpocalypse” fear vs. value‑hunt), so volatility may persist even with positive corporate actions. MarketBeat: Buyback & Sector Context
• Negative Sentiment: Analysts trimmed price targets and several banks flagged near‑term growth risk (cRPO growth in line with guidance), which limits upside until sustained reacceleration is visible. TickerReport/Benzinga: Analyst Cuts
• Negative Sentiment: Investors remain worried AI could compress traditional software margins/renewals; Jefferies and others warned of a near‑term slowdown even as AI adoption builds. Proactive: Jefferies Note
• Negative Sentiment: Shares experienced after‑hours weakness immediately following the release (mixed beats vs. forward uncertainty), showing sensitivity to guidance details despite strong EPS. Proactive: After‑hours Move

Salesforce 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.