Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. Has $538.60 Million Stock Holdings in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 4.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,123,665 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 93,997 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. owned 0.23% of Salesforce worth $538,604,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Board of the Pension Protection Fund acquired a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Key Capital Management INC acquired a new stake in Salesforce during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Legacy Bridge LLC bought a new position in Salesforce in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Marquette Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Finally, Texas Capital Bancshares Inc TX bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $28,000. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Salesforce news, Director David Blair Kirk acquired 2,570 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were bought at an average price of $194.62 per share, with a total value of $500,173.40. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 13,689 shares in the company, valued at $2,664,153.18. This trade represents a 23.11% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 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, with a total value of $500,265.18. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly 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 disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Launch of Agentforce Operations — Salesforce rolled out Agentforce Operations, a suite of specialized AI agents designed to automate complex, cross-system back‑office workflows. Investors see this as a meaningful productization of AI that could expand higher‑margin services and drive upsell across large enterprise accounts. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Deeper Google Cloud & ChatGPT integrations — New Google Cloud workflow integrations and enhanced ChatGPT-for-CRM capabilities let automated agents operate across multiple enterprise systems and LLMs, which can accelerate real‑world adoption and make Salesforce’s AI story more defensible versus pure-play rivals. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst sentiment remains constructive — The average brokerage recommendation sits at “Buy,” and coverage notes the strategic pivot and product launches as catalysts that could justify upside versus current multiples. That endorsement supports near‑term demand for the stock. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Valuation check & comparisons — Several pieces assess CRM’s valuation vs. peers (including a CRM vs. SPOT comparison) and highlight that while upside exists from AI-driven revenue, the stock’s forward multiples require execution to justify a higher valuation. Useful for re‑rating scenarios, but not immediate catalysts. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Industry context — Coverage noting large tech layoffs and where AI economics live is background risk/benefit context; it matters to margins and adoption timing but is not Salesforce‑specific. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Intensifying competition — Reports emphasize escalating AI‑agent rivalry with Microsoft and ongoing cloud competition with Oracle; larger rivals could pressure win rates, pricing, or margin expansion if deals tilt toward hyperscalers. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Recent price weakness — Commentary notes a sizable YTD share decline (reflecting earnings, macro and re‑rating risk). That keeps investor sensitivity high: strong execution on Agentforce and integrations is required to sustain a re‑rating. Article Title

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on CRM. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Salesforce from $235.00 to $210.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Barclays cut their target price on Salesforce from $265.00 to $252.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Salesforce from $365.00 to $320.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their price objective on Salesforce from $223.00 to $194.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on Salesforce from $235.00 to $225.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have issued a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Salesforce presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $279.18.

Salesforce Stock Up 0.8%

Shares of CRM opened at $187.05 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.76. Salesforce Inc. has a 52 week low of $163.52 and a 52 week high of $296.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $153.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.95, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.14. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $186.70 and a 200-day moving average of $219.76.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.05 by $0.76. Salesforce had a return on equity of 15.38% and a net margin of 17.96%.The business had revenue of $11.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.18 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.78 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter 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 anticipate that Salesforce Inc. will post 9.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Investors 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. This is a boost from Salesforce’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is 22.54%.

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.