Centaurus Financial Inc. Buys 3,138 Shares of Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Centaurus Financial Inc. boosted its stake in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 20.9% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 18,154 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,138 shares during the quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc.’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $4,302,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Salesforce in the 2nd quarter valued at $27,000. Marquette Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Salesforce in the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Texas Capital Bancshares Inc TX acquired a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the third quarter valued at about $28,000. Country Trust Bank grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 658.8% during the second quarter. Country Trust Bank now owns 129 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 112 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kilter Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce in the second quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Salesforce

In related news, Director Neelie Kroes sold 3,893 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $238.70, for a total value of $929,259.10. Following the sale, the director owned 7,299 shares in the company, valued at $1,742,271.30. This represents a 34.78% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 3.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Salesforce Trading Down 1.5%

NYSE CRM opened at $195.34 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. Salesforce Inc. has a 52 week low of $174.57 and a 52 week high of $296.05. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $207.96 and a 200-day moving average price of $234.16. The company has a market cap of $180.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.01, a P/E/G ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.29.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.05 by $0.76. The company had revenue of $11.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.18 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 15.38% and a net margin of 17.96%.Salesforce’s quarterly revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.78 EPS. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 13.110-13.190 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 3.110-3.130 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.44 per share. This is an increase from Salesforce’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 9th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is 22.54%.

Salesforce News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce has launched a record $25 billion accelerated share repurchase (ASR), with initial delivery of roughly 103 million shares, which should boost EPS and signal management confidence. Salesforce Commences Largest-Ever $25 Billion Accelerated Share Repurchase
• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce announced a major AI partnership with NVIDIA to embed AI agents into workflows — a strategic move that could deepen product differentiation and drive enterprise demand for AI-enabled CRM. Salesforce Teams with NVIDIA to Bring AI Agents into the Flow of Work
• Positive Sentiment: Some analysts and brokers are endorsing the capital-allocation move: Truist reiterated a Buy and other analyst notes highlight management conviction in growth and EPS accretion from buybacks. Analyst support can underpin sentiment and price targets. Salesforce (CRM) Gets Buy Rating on Capital Allocation Strategy
• Neutral Sentiment: Market commentary and strategy pieces are parsing the company’s “doubling down” on AI and buybacks; these provide context but don’t change fundamentals immediately. Salesforce: Doubling Down In A Time Of Uncertainty
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst roundups and investor interest pieces are elevating attention on CRM; heightened searches and AP coverage can increase short-term trading volume but are information, not a catalyst per se. Analysts Offer Insights on Technology Companies: Salesforce (CRM)
• Negative Sentiment: Salesforce funded the ASR largely with a multi-tranche debt package (senior notes maturing 2028–2066 and a new $6B term loan), significantly increasing leverage and interest exposure — a structural risk if growth/ cash generation slows or rates rise. The Bull Case For Salesforce (CRM) Could Change Following Debt-Funded $25 Billion Buyback And Refinancing Transaction
• Negative Sentiment: Some coverage warns the large, debt-funded buyback could change the bull case by concentrating risk in the capital structure — investors are re-pricing that trade-off today. Salesforce (CRM) Stock Climbs on Historic $25B Share Repurchase Launch

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on CRM shares. Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their target price on shares of Salesforce from $223.00 to $194.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $365.00 to $320.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. KeyCorp lowered their target price on Salesforce from $400.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. Evercore reduced their price target on Salesforce from $360.00 to $340.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on Salesforce from $197.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have given a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $280.21.

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.