Madison Asset Management LLC Invests $12.35 Million in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Madison Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 46,599 shares of the CRM provider’s stock, valued at approximately $12,345,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in CRM. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 89,843,166 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $23,800,353,000 after purchasing an additional 270,913 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 0.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 49,420,657 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $11,732,966,000 after purchasing an additional 159,739 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 9.4% during the third quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 20,051,119 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $4,753,519,000 after purchasing an additional 1,729,440 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 159.0% during the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 17,325,206 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $4,106,255,000 after purchasing an additional 10,636,161 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 11.8% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 7,155,512 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,695,856,000 after purchasing an additional 754,116 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CRM has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on Salesforce from $375.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Salesforce from $235.00 to $210.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. KeyCorp cut their target price on Salesforce from $400.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada cut their target price on Salesforce from $290.00 to $210.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. One investment 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $278.82.

Salesforce Stock Down 3.1%

NYSE CRM opened at $165.96 on Thursday. 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 market capitalization of $135.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.25, a P/E/G ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.14. Salesforce Inc. has a one year low of $163.52 and a one year high of $296.05. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $185.13 and a 200-day moving average price of $216.56.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.05 by $0.76. The firm had revenue of $11.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 period in the prior 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. As a group, equities analysts predict that Salesforce Inc. will post 9.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 9th were given a dividend of $0.44 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 9th. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. This is an increase from Salesforce’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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 shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the CRM provider to reacquire up to 14.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Trending Headlines about Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce’s strong free cash flow remains a key support for the stock, with roughly $14.4 billion generated in fiscal 2026 and substantial capital available for shareholder returns and AI initiatives such as Agentforce and Data 360.
• Positive Sentiment: Brokerage sentiment remains constructive overall, with analysts assigning Salesforce an average rating of “Moderate Buy,” which can help offset some near-term weakness.
• Neutral Sentiment: Citigroup cut its price target on Salesforce to $188 from $200 while keeping a neutral rating, signaling tempered expectations rather than a major deterioration in the company’s outlook. Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Given New $188.00 Price Target at Citigroup
• Neutral Sentiment: Wells Fargo reiterated its hold rating on Salesforce, reinforcing the view that analysts see the stock as fairly valued after recent gains. Wells Fargo Sticks to Its Hold Rating for Salesforce (CRM)
• Negative Sentiment: Salesforce has been slipping more than the broader market in recent sessions, reflecting investor caution and some profit-taking after the stock’s recent rally. Salesforce (CRM) Dips More Than Broader Market: What You Should Know

Insider Buying and Selling

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

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.