Van ECK Associates Corp Purchases 71,832 Shares of Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 5.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,371,345 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 71,832 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp owned about 0.15% of Salesforce worth $363,283,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of CRM. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC acquired a new position in Salesforce during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Board of the Pension Protection Fund acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Key Capital Management INC bought a new stake in Salesforce during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Gilpin Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Salesforce during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Finally, Legacy Bridge LLC bought a new position in shares of Salesforce in the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

More Salesforce News

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce’s latest quarter was strong, with revenue of $11.13 billion, EPS of $3.88, and AI/data ARR rising to $3.4 billion; Agentforce alone reached $1.2 billion in ARR, reinforcing the company’s AI growth story and supporting the bullish case. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Erste Group Bank raised its earnings expectations for Salesforce, estimating FY2027 EPS at $10.17 and FY2028 EPS at $11.07, which suggests confidence in longer-term profitability. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce is getting renewed attention from market watchers, and several articles highlight that its AI pivot and low valuation could attract investors if execution continues to improve. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Salesforce is also being discussed in the context of broader software-sector weakness, with investors favoring AI infrastructure and chip names over traditional subscription software. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Salesforce announced another round of layoffs tied to its AI and Marketing Cloud teams, signaling restructuring pressure as it shifts toward AI-focused and usage-based monetization models. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Several reports note that CRM shares are near 52-week lows as investors worry the market is rotating away from legacy software names, keeping pressure on the stock despite solid fundamentals. Article Title

Insider Transactions at Salesforce

In related news, Director David Blair Kirk purchased 2,570 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $194.62 per share, with a total value of $500,173.40. Following the acquisition, the director owned 13,689 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,664,153.18. This represents a 23.11% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Laura Alber purchased 2,571 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 19th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $194.58 per share, for a total transaction of $500,265.18. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 9,530 shares in the company, valued at $1,854,347.40. The trade was a 36.94% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. 3.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on CRM shares. UBS Group reiterated a “market outperform” rating on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, May 28th. 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 report on Thursday, February 26th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Salesforce from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, June 6th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Salesforce from $210.00 to $200.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. Finally, Oppenheimer reduced their price target on shares of Salesforce from $275.00 to $250.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have issued a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Salesforce presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $259.26.

Salesforce Price Performance

CRM opened at $166.07 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The company has a market capitalization of $136.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.22, a P/E/G ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 1.16. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $180.10 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $206.89. Salesforce Inc. has a 1 year low of $161.40 and a 1 year high of $276.80.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 27th. The CRM provider reported $3.88 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.13 by $0.75. The company had revenue of $11.13 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.05 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 18.73% and a return on equity of 18.72%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.58 EPS. 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 anticipate that Salesforce Inc. will post 10.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Monday, March 16th that authorizes the company to buyback $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the CRM provider to purchase up to 14.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Investors of record on Thursday, June 11th will be issued a $0.44 dividend. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 11th. Salesforce’s payout ratio is 20.37%.

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.