Flossbach Von Storch SE lessened its stake in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM – Free Report) by 5.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 870,327 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 53,683 shares during the period. Salesforce accounts for about 0.9% of Flossbach Von Storch SE’s portfolio, making the stock its 29th biggest position. Flossbach Von Storch SE owned about 0.09% of Salesforce worth $230,558,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of CRM. Aspire Growth Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Aspire Growth Partners LLC now owns 3,355 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $795,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. Abacus Planning Group Inc. raised its stake in Salesforce by 3.1% in the third quarter. Abacus Planning Group Inc. now owns 1,420 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $337,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Salesforce by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC now owns 4,331 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,147,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the period. Code Waechter LLC lifted its position in Salesforce by 5.3% during the third quarter. Code Waechter LLC now owns 871 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $209,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the period. Finally, Mathes Company Inc. grew its stake in Salesforce by 0.4% during the third quarter. Mathes Company Inc. now owns 12,558 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $2,976,000 after buying an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
Trending Headlines about Salesforce
Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:
- Positive Sentiment: Expanded Google Cloud partnership strengthens Salesforce’s AI workflow selling points and deepens technical integration that can help monetize AI agents across enterprise accounts. Google Cloud and Salesforce Enter into Expanded Partnership
- Positive Sentiment: CEO Marc Benioff’s public pledge to hire 1,000 new graduates and his stance that AI won’t eliminate entry‑level roles is positive PR: it signals confidence in demand, supports workforce capacity for customer implementations, and may calm investor fears about automation‑led revenue disruption. Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff Says AI Won’t Kill Entry-Level Jobs and He’s Hiring 1,000 New Grads to Prove It
- Neutral Sentiment: Salesforce filed an antitrust lawsuit in the UK against Microsoft over Teams bundling; the move aims to defend competitive positioning for Slack/Agentforce but introduces legal costs and uncertainty — outcome could be strategically important over the long term. Salesforce sues Microsoft in UK over Teams bundling
- Neutral Sentiment: Market chatter that software vendors (including Salesforce) are beginning to charge customers based on AI usage highlights a potential new revenue stream but also introduces pricing complexity and customer pushback risk as firms transition to consumption models. Market Chatter: Software Companies Begin Charging Customers Based on AI Usage
- Negative Sentiment: Analyst and reporting focus on Agentforce pricing problems flags a near‑term product/monetization issue; Truist says it’s fixable, but the item raises concern about execution and revenue mix while fixes are implemented. Salesforce (CRM): Agentforce Has a Pricing Problem, and Truist Says It’s Fixable
- Negative Sentiment: Competitor ServiceNow reported strong AI‑driven subscription growth, underscoring tougher competitive dynamics in enterprise AI monetization and putting relative performance pressure on Salesforce. NOW’s AI-Driven Subscription Growth Accelerates: More Upside Ahead?
- Negative Sentiment: Coverage pointing out Salesforce as one of the weaker YTD software performers increases investor focus on valuation and execution risks — a sentiment headwind until fresh proof of sustained AI monetization or margin expansion appears. Which Software Stock Has Been The Worst Performer in 2026: Adobe, Salesforce, or ServiceNow?
Salesforce Trading Up 1.1%
Salesforce (NYSE:CRM – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.05 by $0.76. Salesforce had a net margin of 17.96% and a return on equity of 15.38%. The business had revenue of $11.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.18 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.78 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. 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 forecast that Salesforce Inc. will post 9.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Salesforce announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Monday, March 16th that allows the company to buyback $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the CRM provider to purchase up to 14.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.
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 paid a $0.44 dividend. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 9th. This is a positive change from Salesforce’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is currently 22.54%.
Insider Buying and Selling at Salesforce
In other news, Director Laura Alber bought 2,571 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 19th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $194.58 per share, for a total transaction of $500,265.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 9,530 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,854,347.40. This trade represents a 36.94% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director David Blair Kirk purchased 2,570 shares of the business’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 purchase, the director directly owned 13,689 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,664,153.18. This represents a 23.11% increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Company insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
CRM has been the subject of several analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $281.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of Salesforce from $300.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $235.00 to $210.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Salesforce from $365.00 to $320.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $375.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Salesforce currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $279.18.
View Our Latest Research Report on CRM
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.
Further Reading
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