Renaissance Group LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Renaissance Group LLC raised its stake in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 3.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 122,928 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,526 shares during the quarter. Renaissance Group LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $32,565,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Salesforce by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 89,843,166 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $23,800,353,000 after purchasing an additional 270,913 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its position in Salesforce by 0.3% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 49,420,657 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $11,732,966,000 after purchasing an additional 159,739 shares during the period. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in Salesforce by 13.3% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 22,721,010 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $6,019,199,000 after purchasing an additional 2,669,891 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Salesforce by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 21,782,556 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $5,751,073,000 after buying an additional 791,345 shares during the period. Finally, Capital World Investors grew its stake in shares of Salesforce by 13.5% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 19,672,684 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $5,211,515,000 after buying an additional 2,347,478 shares in the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Trending Headlines about Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce is getting credit for expanding its AI monetization strategy by acquiring m3ter, a usage-based metering and billing platform. The deal should help integrate consumption pricing into Agentforce Revenue Management, which could support revenue growth from AI products and make Salesforce more flexible for customers shifting away from pure subscription billing. Salesforce m3ter Deal Highlights Shift Toward Usage Based AI Revenue
• Positive Sentiment: Bloomberg-reported news that Salesforce’s stake in Anthropic has grown to about $5 billion reinforces the company’s AI exposure and may boost investor confidence that management has a meaningful position in one of the leading AI startups. Salesforce’s Anthropic Stake Reportedly Reaches $5 Billion as AI Startup Eyes IPO, Bloomberg Reports
• Positive Sentiment: A Zacks note highlighted that Salesforce is trading near a 52-week low while Agentforce ARR is rising sharply and growth appears to be re-accelerating, suggesting the stock may look inexpensive relative to its long-term AI opportunity. Salesforce Trades Near 52-Week Low: Time to Hold the Stock or Exit?
• Neutral Sentiment: Salesforce’s presentation at the Mizuho Technology Conference did not include a clear new catalyst in the provided summary, but it kept management visible to investors amid heightened scrutiny on execution. Salesforce, Inc. (CRM) Presents at Mizuho Technology Conference 2026 Transcript
• Neutral Sentiment: Third-party coverage also pointed to improving earnings quality and positive market reaction to the latest results, which supports the view that the company still has fundamental strength despite the recent pullback. Shareholders Can Be Confident That Salesforce’s (NYSE:CRM) Earnings Are High Quality
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple reports about layoffs and severance packages are likely weighing on sentiment, as they underscore cost-cutting pressure and suggest management is still adjusting the workforce around slower-than-hoped AI adoption. Salesforce lays off employees in a new round of cuts
• Negative Sentiment: Articles noting AI competition pressure and a stock slide despite the earnings beat suggest investors remain concerned that rivals are limiting Salesforce’s growth outlook, even after strong quarterly results. AI Competition Pressured Salesforce (CRM) in Q1
• Negative Sentiment: Coverage of layoffs amid AI concerns and a sharply lower stock price reflects continuing market skepticism about whether Salesforce’s AI investments will translate into faster near-term growth. Salesforce lays off 86 employees amid AI concerns, stock down 30%

Insider Transactions at Salesforce

In other Salesforce news, Director David Blair Kirk purchased 2,570 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $194.62 per share, with a total value of $500,173.40. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 13,689 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,664,153.18. This represents a 23.11% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Laura Alber acquired 2,571 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 acquisition, the director owned 9,530 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,854,347.40. The trade was a 36.94% increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. 3.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Salesforce Stock Down 2.4%

Shares of NYSE:CRM opened at $171.22 on Thursday. Salesforce Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $163.52 and a fifty-two week high of $276.80. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $180.90 and its 200 day moving average price is $207.60. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. The stock has a market cap of $140.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.16.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 27th. The CRM provider reported $3.88 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.13 by $0.75. Salesforce had a net margin of 18.73% and a return on equity of 18.72%. The company had revenue of $11.13 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.05 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.58 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. 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, equities research analysts predict that Salesforce Inc. will post 10.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 11th will be paid a $0.44 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 11th. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.37%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Mizuho decreased their target price on Salesforce from $280.00 to $265.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Piper Sandler downgraded Salesforce from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. UBS Group reiterated a “market outperform” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. KeyCorp lowered their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $300.00 to $290.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. Finally, Northland Securities dropped their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $267.00 to $229.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have assigned a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Salesforce has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $259.26.

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.