Salesforce Inc. $CRM Shares Acquired by IFP Advisors Inc

IFP Advisors Inc lifted its stake in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 17.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 22,914 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,404 shares during the quarter. IFP Advisors Inc’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $5,432,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Capital World Investors raised its stake in shares of 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 period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce during the second quarter worth $2,826,049,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake 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. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Salesforce during the 3rd quarter valued at $484,852,000. Finally, Alyeska Investment Group L.P. grew its holdings in Salesforce by 285.4% during the 3rd quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 2,487,627 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $589,568,000 after purchasing an additional 1,842,117 shares in the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other Salesforce news, Director David Blair Kirk bought 2,570 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $194.62 per share, for a total transaction of $500,173.40. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 13,689 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,664,153.18. This trade represents a 23.11% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Laura Alber purchased 2,571 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 19th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $194.58 per share, with a total value of $500,265.18. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 9,530 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,854,347.40. This trade represents a 36.94% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Company insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Stock Performance

Shares of Salesforce stock opened at $194.89 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $179.88 billion, a PE ratio of 24.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.29. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $205.22 and its 200-day simple moving average is $233.61. 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 1 year low of $174.57 and a 1 year high of $296.05.

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

Salesforce declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Monday, March 16th that authorizes the company to buyback $25.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the CRM provider to repurchase up to 14.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 9th will be given a $0.44 dividend. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 9th. This is a positive change from Salesforce’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. Salesforce’s payout ratio is 21.25%.

Key Salesforce News

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Company insiders (directors) bought shares this week—two disclosures show ~2,570-share purchases at roughly $194.6 each, signaling management confidence and providing a near-term vote of confidence to the market. Insider Buying: Salesforce Director Buys 2,570 Shares of Stock
• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce is pushing “Agentic AI” initiatives and partnering to embed AI agents into workflows (including collaborations reported with NVIDIA), which investors view as core to reaccelerating bookings and revenue growth over time. This supports the bull case for CRM’s longer-term growth trajectory. Salesforce’s Agentic AI Push: Can It Reaccelerate CRM’s Sales Growth?
• Neutral Sentiment: High-profile endorsements remain in the tape—Jim Cramer previously recommended buying CRM (Feb 2025). Such mentions can influence retail flows but are less likely to move fundamentals. Jim Cramer recommended buying Salesforce (CRM) in February 2025
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts have trimmed price targets after the latest quarter but the consensus remains a “Moderate Buy”—mixed near-term takes create a neutral broker backdrop. Salesforce (CRM) stock overview and analyst notes
• Negative Sentiment: A report flags a very large buyback program (coverage cites a $50B figure) after an EPS beat but softer guidance—some investors worry buybacks are being used to lift EPS rather than being matched by reaccelerating organic growth, weighing on sentiment. A $50 Billion Buyback Is Raising Questions About Salesforce’s Growth Story
• Negative Sentiment: Separately, Salesforce completed a large, debt-funded accelerated share repurchase and issued sizeable senior notes to finance it—this materially changes leverage and capital structure, prompting debate over long-term risk vs. shareholder returns. The Bull Case For Salesforce (CRM) Could Change Following Debt-Funded $25 Billion Buyback And Refinancing Transaction

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on CRM. Citizens Jmp reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $430.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a report on Tuesday, December 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Salesforce from $235.00 to $210.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Guggenheim reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Salesforce from $398.00 to $287.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Finally, Evercore lowered their price objective on Salesforce from $360.00 to $340.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. One investment 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 issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Salesforce has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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.