Erste Asset Management GmbH Increases Stake in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Erste Asset Management GmbH raised its stake in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 14.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 274,108 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after buying an additional 34,908 shares during the quarter. Salesforce comprises approximately 0.9% of Erste Asset Management GmbH’s holdings, making the stock its 24th largest position. Erste Asset Management GmbH’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $73,918,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 1.6% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 87,913,628 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $23,592,501,000 after purchasing an additional 1,383,942 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 18.3% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 11,224,927 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $3,752,830,000 after purchasing an additional 1,736,667 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 5.1% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 9,014,148 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,419,037,000 after purchasing an additional 437,435 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 23.2% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,938,536 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,988,422,000 after purchasing an additional 1,683,233 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 7.5% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 8,658,132 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,894,673,000 after purchasing an additional 602,445 shares in the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on shares of Salesforce from $350.00 to $335.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $315.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $255.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $370.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Tuesday, June 10th. Finally, Mizuho dropped their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $425.00 to $380.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have assigned a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Salesforce currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $342.89.

Insider Transactions at Salesforce

In other Salesforce news, CEO Marc Benioff sold 2,250 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $260.30, for a total transaction of $585,675.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 11,955,566 shares in the company, valued at $3,112,033,829.80. This represents a 0.02% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 51,032 shares of company stock worth $13,171,536. 3.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Salesforce Stock Up 0.7%

Shares of Salesforce stock opened at $245.6070 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 1.07. Salesforce Inc. has a 1 year low of $226.48 and a 1 year high of $369.00. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $259.40 and its two-hundred day moving average is $273.94. The stock has a market cap of $234.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.44, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.37.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 28th. The CRM provider reported $2.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.55 by $0.03. Salesforce had a net margin of 16.08% and a return on equity of 12.94%. The company had revenue of $9.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.74 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.44 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. Salesforce has set its FY 2026 guidance at 11.270-11.330 EPS. Q2 2026 guidance at 2.760-2.780 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 10th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 18th were issued a dividend of $0.416 per share. This represents a $1.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 18th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is presently 25.98%.

Salesforce Profile

Salesforce, Inc provides Customer Relationship Management (CRM) technology that brings companies and customers together worldwide. The company's service includes sales to store data, monitor leads and progress, forecast opportunities, gain insights through analytics and artificial intelligence, and deliver quotes, contracts, and invoices; and service that enables companies to deliver trusted and highly personalized customer support at scale.