Rafferty Asset Management LLC Acquires 12,492 Shares of Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Rafferty Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 344,945 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after buying an additional 12,492 shares during the quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $81,752,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of CRM. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce in the second quarter valued at approximately $2,826,049,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Salesforce by 27,361.5% in the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,424,169 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $933,737,000 after purchasing an additional 3,411,700 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Salesforce by 1,729.6% during the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 1,973,141 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $538,020,000 after purchasing an additional 1,865,297 shares in the last quarter. Generation Investment Management LLP bought a new position in Salesforce during the 3rd quarter worth about $431,157,000. Finally, Amundi raised its stake in shares of Salesforce by 26.2% in the 2nd quarter. Amundi now owns 7,755,317 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,087,545,000 after purchasing an additional 1,612,413 shares during the period. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on CRM shares. Wolfe Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Salesforce from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 28th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. Arete Research upgraded shares of Salesforce to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Finally, Oppenheimer cut their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $275.00 to $250.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have given a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $283.06.

Key Salesforce News

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q4 beat on profitability and AI traction — Non‑GAAP EPS came in at $3.81 (well above consensus) and management highlighted Agentforce/AI monetization as a growth driver, supporting the view that AI is adding commercial value. Revenue In Line With Expectations
• Positive Sentiment: Big capital‑return program — Salesforce raised its dividend and authorized a $50B buyback, signaling management confidence and improving EPS leverage if executed. That buyback is a clear near‑term support for the share price. AI Bet & Buyback
• Neutral Sentiment: Long‑term targets updated — Management lifted multiyear ambitions (targeting roughly $63B revenue by FY2030) and kept FY27 EPS guidance in a tight range; this supports the long‑term bull case but leaves near‑term pacing ambiguous. FY30 Target & Guidance
• Negative Sentiment: Near‑term guidance and metrics disappointed some — cRPO and other cloud momentum measures were only in‑line, and commentary implied a mid‑year slowdown before AI‑driven reacceleration, which hurt investor confidence. Jefferies on Near‑Term Slowdown
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst cuts and mixed ratings — Several banks trimmed price targets (examples: Sanford Bernstein, TD Cowen, RBC, BMO, Barclays, DA Davidson) or issued neutral/underperform stances, increasing short‑term selling pressure as models were reset. Analyst Revisions
• Negative Sentiment: Investor skepticism over AI impact persists — Coverage highlights that some investors still worry AI could compress SaaS economics despite management’s assurances, creating continued volatility in CRM shares. 3 Reasons Earnings Failed to Impress

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Neelie Kroes sold 3,893 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $238.70, for a total transaction of $929,259.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 7,299 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,742,271.30. This trade represents a 34.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Parker Harris sold 134,662 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $234.70, for a total value of $31,605,171.40. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 139,767 shares in the company, valued at $32,803,314.90. This represents a 49.07% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Trading Down 2.5%

Shares of Salesforce stock opened at $194.47 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $182.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. Salesforce Inc. has a 12-month low of $174.57 and a 12-month high of $303.07. The business’s 50 day moving average is $223.98 and its 200-day moving average is $238.32.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last released 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 15.28%. The business had revenue of $11.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.18 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.78 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. 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 predict that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 9th will be issued a $0.44 dividend. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 9th. This is a positive change from Salesforce’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. Salesforce’s payout ratio is currently 21.25%.

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.