Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Director Laura Alber Buys 2,571 Shares

Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) Director Laura Alber purchased 2,571 shares of the company’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 purchase, the director directly owned 9,530 shares in the company, valued at $1,854,347.40. This represents a 36.94% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link.

Salesforce Trading Up 0.3%

NYSE CRM traded up $0.55 on Thursday, hitting $194.89. 9,242,405 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 12,709,019. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.76. Salesforce Inc. has a twelve month low of $174.57 and a twelve month high of $296.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $179.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.29. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $206.53 and its 200-day moving average price is $233.88.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last released its earnings results 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 business had revenue of $11.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.18 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.78 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 13.110-13.190 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 3.110-3.130 EPS. Analysts predict that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.44 per share. This is an increase 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 yield of 0.9%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.25%.

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

Trending Headlines about Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Two directors increased holdings with recent open-market buys, signaling insider confidence; David Blair Kirk bought 2,570 shares and Laura Alber bought 2,571 shares (~$194.6 avg). Insider purchases often reassure investors about management outlook. David Kirk Form4 Laura Alber Form4
• Positive Sentiment: Management’s AI push (Agentic AI, Agentforce, Data Cloud) and a partnership to embed AI agents into workflows with NVIDIA are being highlighted as growth drivers that could reaccelerate bookings and revenue. These product-level catalysts support a bullish operational narrative. Agentic AI Article NVIDIA Partnership
• Positive Sentiment: The board authorized a $25 billion repurchase program and the company announced a higher quarterly dividend ($0.44). The ASR and buyback increase near-term EPS and signal management conviction, supporting the stock. Buyback Plan
• Positive Sentiment: Large institutional buying and concentrated ownership by index players (Vanguard, State Street, etc.) remains a structural support for liquidity and valuation. MarketBeat Institutional Data
• Neutral Sentiment: Industry and product coverage pieces—profiles of Salesforce architects and niche competitive moves (e.g., Covve’s rebrand)—provide context but are unlikely to move the stock materially on their own. Architect Profile Covve Rebrand
• Negative Sentiment: The $25B repurchase was largely funded via a large debt package (multi‑tranche senior notes and a $6B term loan), materially changing Salesforce’s capital structure; this increases leverage risk and could pressure credit metrics if growth slows. Some analysts highlight the refinancing risk. Debt-funded ASR Analysis
• Negative Sentiment: Several firms trimmed price targets after recent moves; while ratings remain generally favorable, lower targets reflect near-term valuation concerns and the market’s reassessment post-buyback. Analyst Notes

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Salesforce

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of CRM. J. Stern & Co. LLP increased its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 24,056.7% during the 4th quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 47,385,511 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $12,552,896,000 after acquiring an additional 47,189,352 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Salesforce during the fourth quarter worth approximately $3,182,951,000. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in Salesforce by 159.0% during the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 17,325,206 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $4,106,255,000 after purchasing an additional 10,636,161 shares during the last quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. raised its position in shares of Salesforce by 924.7% in the fourth quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 3,883,610 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $1,028,807,000 after purchasing an additional 3,504,605 shares during the period. Finally, Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Salesforce by 27,361.5% in the second quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,424,169 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $933,737,000 after purchasing an additional 3,411,700 shares during the period. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on CRM. Wall Street Zen upgraded Salesforce from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 28th. Northland Securities dropped their target price on Salesforce from $267.00 to $229.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 10th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on shares of Salesforce from $325.00 to $315.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 4th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $235.00 to $225.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $375.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Salesforce currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $280.21.

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.