Salesforce Inc. $CRM Shares Acquired by Dakota Wealth Management

Dakota Wealth Management boosted its holdings in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 11.5% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 37,196 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,826 shares during the period. Dakota Wealth Management’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $9,854,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Aspire Growth Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Aspire Growth Partners LLC now owns 3,355 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $795,000 after buying an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. Abacus Planning Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Salesforce by 3.1% in the third quarter. Abacus Planning Group Inc. now owns 1,420 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $337,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Salesforce by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC now owns 4,331 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,147,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Code Waechter LLC raised its holdings in Salesforce by 5.3% in the third quarter. Code Waechter LLC now owns 871 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $209,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital A Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Salesforce by 40.9% during the 2nd quarter. Capital A Wealth Management LLC now owns 155 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Salesforce Trading Up 2.0%

NYSE CRM opened at $185.56 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.76. Salesforce Inc. has a one year low of $174.57 and a one year high of $296.05. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $199.36 and a 200-day simple moving average of $231.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $171.27 billion, a PE ratio of 23.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.29.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.05 by $0.76. Salesforce had a net margin of 17.96% and a return on equity of 15.38%. The firm had revenue of $11.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.18 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.78 earnings per share. Salesforce’s quarterly 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. On average, equities analysts forecast that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

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

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

Salesforce News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: U.S. Department of Labor selected Salesforce’s Agentforce to power a new AI contact-center agent (DOLA), a large public-sector reference that validates Agentforce at scale and should help ARR and credibility. U.S. Department of Labor Taps Agentforce to Enhance Citizen Support
• Positive Sentiment: The Veterans Health Administration deployed a Salesforce-powered agentic operating system across 150+ VA centers, representing a major healthcare win and meaningful scale for Agentforce adoption. VHA Deploys Salesforce-Powered Agentic Operating System
• Positive Sentiment: Adecco Group is rolling out Agentforce globally for recruitment workflows, a commercial customer deployment that demonstrates enterprise demand and cross-industry scalability for Salesforce’s AI offerings. Adecco’s Agentforce Rollout Puts Salesforce’s AI Story To The Test
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst commentary highlights a $50B buyback program (including a $25B accelerated repurchase) that should materially cut share count (>10%) and lift EPS, making the stock more attractive on a sub-15x FY27 EPS multiple. Salesforce: Billions Of Reasons To Own
• Positive Sentiment: Coverage noting margin gains from cost cuts and AI-driven revenue improvement — management’s efficiency moves are boosting profitability, though analysts flag future investment needs. Salesforce’s Cost Cuts Boost Margins: Will Expansion Continue Further?
• Neutral Sentiment: Salesforce adjusted executive compensation (skipping raises for director-level and above while increasing stock/bonus pools) and made <1,000 role reductions; shows cost discipline but also signaling continued focus on productivity. Salesforce Resets Executive Pay And Leadership As Shares Trade Below Targets
• Neutral Sentiment: Minor corporate items: equity awards tied to the Apromore acquisition and institutional portfolio moves (e.g., ARK trimming) — not material to fundamentals but worth monitoring for insider/ownership trends. Salesforce Grants Equity Awards to Apromore Under Its Inducement Equity Incentive Plan
• Negative Sentiment: AI-competition and safety fears persist: an earlier selloff followed news that Anthropic’s Claude can control computers, stoking concerns about agent capabilities, regulation and competitive threats that can pressure multiples. Why Salesforce (CRM) Shares Are Getting Obliterated Today
• Negative Sentiment: Coverage noting short-term AI worries and cautious investor positioning has caused periodic volatility despite durable enterprise demand. Salesforce (CRM) Declined on AI Concerns but Remains a Mission-Critical Enterprise Platform

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on CRM shares. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on shares of Salesforce from $325.00 to $315.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on shares of Salesforce from $375.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. UBS Group decreased their price target on Salesforce from $260.00 to $200.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Salesforce in a report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, February 26th. 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 assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Salesforce currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $280.21.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Laura Alber acquired 2,571 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the director directly owned 9,530 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,854,347.40. This trade represents a 36.94% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director David Blair Kirk acquired 2,570 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were bought at an average price of $194.62 per share, with a total value of $500,173.40. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 13,689 shares in the company, valued at $2,664,153.18. The trade was a 23.11% increase in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Company insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

About Salesforce

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.