Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Director David Blair Kirk Buys 2,570 Shares

Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) Director David Blair Kirk bought 2,570 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $194.62 per share, with a total value of $500,173.40. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 13,689 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,664,153.18. The trade was a 23.11% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link.

Salesforce Price Performance

Shares of Salesforce stock traded down $0.84 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $194.47. 10,514,399 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 14,368,453. The stock has a market cap of $179.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.90, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.76. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $207.96 and its 200-day moving average price is $234.16. Salesforce Inc. has a 12 month low of $174.57 and a 12 month high of $296.05.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analysts’ expectations of $11.18 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.78 earnings per share. The company’s 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. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Monday, March 16th that allows the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the CRM provider to buy up to 14.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans 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. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 9th will be given a $0.44 dividend. This is a boost from Salesforce’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 9th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is 21.25%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Salesforce

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Aspire Growth Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Salesforce by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Aspire Growth Partners LLC now owns 3,355 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $795,000 after acquiring an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. Abacus Planning Group Inc. boosted its stake in Salesforce by 3.1% during the third quarter. Abacus Planning Group Inc. now owns 1,420 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $337,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC grew 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 worth $1,147,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the period. 17 Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in Salesforce by 1.9% in the second quarter. 17 Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,321 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $633,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Code Waechter LLC raised its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 5.3% during the third quarter. Code Waechter LLC now owns 871 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $209,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. 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 research report on Thursday, December 4th. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price objective on Salesforce from $290.00 to $210.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 26th. UBS Group lowered their target price on Salesforce from $260.00 to $200.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Citigroup upped their price target on Salesforce from $197.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. Finally, Citizens Jmp restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $430.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Tuesday, December 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have issued a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $280.21.

Key Headlines Impacting Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Board authorized a $25 billion share repurchase program and initiated an accelerated buyback, signaling management confidence and likely near‑term support for the stock. Stock Buyback Plan Initiated by Salesforce
• Positive Sentiment: Strong product momentum from Agentic AI, Agentforce and Data Cloud is driving higher bookings and revenue growth prospects — a core reason bulls expect reacceleration in CRM’s top line. Salesforce’s Agentic AI Push
• Positive Sentiment: Partnership with NVIDIA to embed AI agents into workflows strengthens Salesforce’s go‑to‑market for AI features and could accelerate adoption across enterprise customers. Salesforce Teams with NVIDIA
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst commentary remains mixed-to-supportive: some firms reiterated buy ratings on the capital allocation strategy, but views differ on risk/reward given the new leverage. Buy Rating on Capital Allocation
• Neutral Sentiment: Third‑party comparisons and coverage pieces (e.g., head‑to‑head with smaller rivals) are airing but aren’t driving material moves relative to the buyback/debt story. Unitronix vs Salesforce Comparison
• Negative Sentiment: The $25 billion accelerated share repurchase and $6 billion term loan are largely debt‑funded (multi‑tranche senior notes and refinancing), materially changing Salesforce’s capital structure and raising concerns about leverage, interest expense and long‑dated maturities. That shift is the main near‑term bearish catalyst. Bull Case Could Change After Debt-Funded Buyback

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.