Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich Lowers Stock Holdings in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich lessened its stake in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 6.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 90,100 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 6,141 shares during the period. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $23,868,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Aspire Growth Partners LLC raised its position in Salesforce by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Aspire Growth Partners LLC now owns 3,355 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $795,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC now owns 4,331 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,147,000 after buying an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Mathes Company Inc. increased its stake in shares of Salesforce by 0.4% during the third quarter. Mathes Company Inc. now owns 12,558 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,976,000 after buying an additional 45 shares during the period. Fred Alger Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 0.3% in the third 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Beacon Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 3.5% in the third 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Trading Up 1.2%

NYSE CRM opened at $167.76 on Friday. Salesforce Inc. has a 52 week low of $163.52 and a 52 week high of $292.17. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $184.56 and a 200 day moving average price of $215.95. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The firm has a market cap of $137.26 billion, a PE ratio of 21.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 1.14.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $11.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.18 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.78 earnings per share. Salesforce’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. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Salesforce Inc. will post 9.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 9th were given 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 of this dividend was Thursday, April 9th. This is a positive change from Salesforce’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. Salesforce’s payout ratio is 22.54%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Salesforce

In other Salesforce news, Director David Blair Kirk purchased 2,570 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $194.62 per share, with a total value of $500,173.40. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 13,689 shares in the company, valued at $2,664,153.18. The trade was a 23.11% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Laura Alber purchased 2,571 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 19th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $194.58 per share, for a total transaction of $500,265.18. Following the purchase, 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 position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. 3.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on shares of Salesforce from $375.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price target on shares of Salesforce from $290.00 to $210.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $398.00 to $287.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. Mizuho reduced their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $280.00 to $265.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $281.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, February 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have given a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $278.82.

Key Stories Impacting Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce landed a $72 million U.S. Air Force agreement tied to a broader Department of Defense contract, expanding its Agentforce AI platform into secure government workflows and reinforcing the company’s AI growth narrative. Salesforce’s Air Force Deal Tests Agentforce’s Role In Secure Government AI
• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce continues to attract bullish attention as investors focus on its agentic AI strategy and broader growth story across large-cap software. The Zacks Analyst Blog Meta, Pfizer, Salesforce and Smith-Midland
• Neutral Sentiment: BoldSign launched a Salesforce integration on AgentExchange to streamline agreement workflows, highlighting continued partner ecosystem momentum around the CRM platform. BoldSign Launches Salesforce Integration to Streamline Agreement Workflows
• Neutral Sentiment: Salesforce received a new $188 price target from Citi, down from $200, reflecting softer enterprise software spending trends and a more cautious near-term outlook. Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Given New $188.00 Price Target at Citigroup
• Neutral Sentiment: Salesforce also remained broadly favored by brokerage firms with an overall “Moderate Buy” rating, suggesting Wall Street still sees upside despite the valuation reset. Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

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.