Natixis Advisors LLC Buys 138,754 Shares of Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Natixis Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 14.1% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 1,119,932 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 138,754 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $296,681,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Rockland Trust Co. grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 1,145.6% in the third quarter. Rockland Trust Co. now owns 13,066 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $3,097,000 after acquiring an additional 12,017 shares in the last quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 98.3% in the third quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 21,455 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $5,085,000 after acquiring an additional 10,633 shares in the last quarter. Midwest Trust Co grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 2.3% in the third quarter. Midwest Trust Co now owns 187,071 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $44,336,000 after acquiring an additional 4,233 shares in the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 15.1% in the third quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 467,551 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $113,420,000 after acquiring an additional 61,270 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AGF Management Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 42.2% in the third quarter. AGF Management Ltd. now owns 281,054 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $66,610,000 after acquiring an additional 83,403 shares in the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Salesforce Trading Up 9.5%

NYSE:CRM opened at $209.33 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $171.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.23, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.16. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $181.06 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $210.11. Salesforce Inc. has a 1 year low of $163.52 and a 1 year high of $276.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.79.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 27th. The CRM provider reported $3.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.13 by $0.75. The firm had revenue of $11.13 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.05 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 18.72% and a net margin of 18.73%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $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. As a group, analysts expect that Salesforce Inc. will post 9.72 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Monday, March 16th that allows the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the CRM provider to buy up to 14.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 11th will be given a dividend of $0.44 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 11th. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.37%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Salesforce

In other Salesforce news, Director David Blair Kirk acquired 2,570 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were bought at an average price 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,664,153.18. This represents a 23.11% increase in their position. The transaction 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 stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 19th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $194.58 per share, for a total transaction of $500,265.18. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 9,530 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,854,347.40. This represents a 36.94% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 3.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on CRM shares. Barclays reduced their target price on Salesforce from $252.00 to $236.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 28th. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price objective on Salesforce from $290.00 to $210.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Bank of America assumed coverage on Salesforce in a research note on Monday, May 18th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $160.00 price objective on the stock. Piper Sandler cut Salesforce from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Northland Securities dropped their price target on Salesforce from $267.00 to $229.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have given a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $257.97.

Key Stories Impacting Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce is benefiting from a broader rebound in software stocks after Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang eased fears that AI will disrupt the software industry, giving CRM and peers a fresh tailwind. NOW, IBM, software stocks surge as Huang eases AI fears; analysts see more upside
• Positive Sentiment: Investors are also focused on Salesforce’s expanding AI strategy, including a reported Contentful acquisition and continued rollout of Agentforce and related enterprise AI tools, which reinforces the company’s growth narrative. CRM Stock Jumps Amid Software Rally — Company Expands AI Push With Contentful Acquisition
• Positive Sentiment: Recent earnings remain a key support for the stock: Salesforce beat on both EPS and revenue, posted strong year-over-year growth, and delivered solid cash flow, helping sustain investor confidence despite broader market volatility. Salesforce, Inc. (CRM) Beats on Earnings and Revenue
• Neutral Sentiment: Salesforce continues to attract heavy investor attention online, reflecting elevated interest in the stock, but the article did not add new fundamental information likely to move shares. Investors Heavily Search Salesforce, Inc. (CRM): Here is What You Need to Know
• Neutral Sentiment: A Zacks review of Salesforce’s international revenue exposure is mainly a reminder that a meaningful portion of sales comes from overseas markets, which can affect stability and growth, but it was not a fresh catalyst. Salesforce (CRM) Reliance on International Sales: What Investors Need to Know
• Negative Sentiment: Some commentary continues to question whether Salesforce can thrive in an AI-dominated software landscape, and BMO trimmed its price target after earnings, which suggests some caution remains around valuation and future upside. Is Salesforce (CRM) the Best Undervalued Stock to Buy According to the Financial Media?

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.