ING Groep NV Purchases 155,931 Shares of Salesforce Inc. $CRM

ING Groep NV boosted its position in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 26.9% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 736,368 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after buying an additional 155,931 shares during the quarter. Salesforce comprises 1.2% of ING Groep NV’s holdings, making the stock its 15th biggest position. ING Groep NV’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $195,071,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Byrne Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Salesforce by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC now owns 4,331 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,147,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares during the period. Mathes Company Inc. raised its stake in Salesforce by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Mathes Company Inc. now owns 12,558 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,976,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the period. Fred Alger Management LLC raised its stake in Salesforce by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 14,943 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $3,548,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the period. Beacon Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Salesforce by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,372 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $325,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares during the period. Finally, Fulcrum Asset Management LLP raised its stake in Salesforce by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Fulcrum Asset Management LLP now owns 2,774 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $657,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares during the period. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Salesforce Trading Down 1.5%

Shares of CRM opened at $185.85 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $181.31 and its 200-day moving average price is $208.90. Salesforce Inc. has a twelve month low of $163.52 and a twelve month high of $276.80. The stock has a market cap of $152.21 billion, a PE ratio of 21.51, a P/E/G ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. The company had revenue of $11.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.05 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 18.73% and a return on equity of 18.72%. Salesforce’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.58 earnings per share. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 14.060-14.120 EPS and its Q2 2027 guidance at 3.250-3.270 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Salesforce Inc. will post 10.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Investors of record on Thursday, June 11th will be given a $0.44 dividend. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 11th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is 20.37%.

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

Salesforce News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce announced a landmark partnership with FIFA for the 2026 World Cup and 2027 Women’s World Cup, which could showcase its AI-driven Agentforce 360 platform to a massive global audience and potentially drive future enterprise demand. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: KeyCorp kept an Overweight rating and a $290 price target on Salesforce, while modeling earnings above consensus for FY2027, signaling continued analyst confidence in the company’s profit growth. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Recent commentary highlights Salesforce’s strong momentum, helped by its AI strategy, Agentforce rollout, recurring revenue base, and expanding free cash flow, which may keep long-term investors interested. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Salesforce’s presentation at the Evercore Global TMT Conference and valuation-focused coverage suggest investors are still reassessing how much of the AI and Agentforce optimism is already priced in. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Bridgewater Associates reportedly sold Salesforce, which can pressure sentiment in the near term, although the article argues that institutional selling may create a better entry point for patient investors. Article Title

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on CRM shares. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Salesforce from $398.00 to $287.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. Bank of America assumed coverage on Salesforce in a research report on Monday, May 18th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $160.00 price target on the stock. Citigroup reiterated a “market outperform” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. Truist Financial set a $280.00 price target on Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a “market outperform” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have issued a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Salesforce currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $257.97.

Insider Activity at Salesforce

In related news, Director David Blair Kirk acquired 2,570 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $194.62 per share, for a total transaction of $500,173.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 13,689 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,664,153.18. This trade represents a 23.11% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Laura Alber acquired 2,571 shares of the firm’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 completion of the transaction, the director 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. 3.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.