Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp Sells 3,648 Shares of Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Key Points

• Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp trimmed its Salesforce stake by 8.2% in the fourth quarter, selling 3,648 shares and ending with 40,904 shares valued at about $10.8 million.
• Salesforce shares were down 3.5% in Wednesday trading, opening at $171.28, near the lower end of their 52-week range of $163.52 to $296.05.
• The company continues to show solid fundamentals, with quarterly EPS of $3.81 beating estimates and revenue of $11.20 billion topping forecasts; Salesforce also announced a $25 billion share buyback and raised its quarterly dividend to $0.44.

Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp reduced its holdings in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 8.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 40,904 shares of the CRM provider's stock after selling 3,648 shares during the quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp's holdings in Salesforce were worth $10,836,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Rockland Trust Co. raised its stake in Salesforce by 1,145.6% during the third quarter. Rockland Trust Co. now owns 13,066 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $3,097,000 after buying an additional 12,017 shares during the last quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Salesforce by 98.3% in the third quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 21,455 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $5,085,000 after purchasing an additional 10,633 shares during the last quarter. Midwest Trust Co raised its stake in shares of Salesforce by 2.3% in the third quarter. Midwest Trust Co now owns 187,071 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $44,336,000 after purchasing an additional 4,233 shares during the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its stake in shares of Salesforce by 15.1% in the third quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 467,551 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $113,420,000 after purchasing an additional 61,270 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AGF Management Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Salesforce by 42.2% in the third quarter. AGF Management Ltd. now owns 281,054 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $66,610,000 after purchasing an additional 83,403 shares during the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Salesforce Trading Down 3.5%

Shares of NYSE CRM opened at $171.28 on Wednesday. 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 business's 50 day moving average price is $185.67 and its 200-day moving average price is $217.19. Salesforce Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $163.52 and a fifty-two week high of $296.05. The company has a market cap of $140.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.93, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.14.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.05 by $0.76. The company had revenue of $11.20 billion for 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%.Salesforce's quarterly revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $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. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Salesforce Inc. will post 9.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Monday, March 16th that permits the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the CRM provider to repurchase up to 14.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 9th were given a $0.44 dividend. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 9th. This is a positive change from Salesforce's previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. Salesforce's payout ratio is 22.54%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Laura Alber acquired 2,571 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction 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 purchase, the director owned 9,530 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,854,347.40. This represents a 36.94% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director David Blair Kirk acquired 2,570 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction 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 purchase, the director directly owned 13,689 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,664,153.18. The trade was a 23.11% increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. 3.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CRM has been the subject of a number of research reports. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an "overweight" rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on Salesforce from $375.00 to $250.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. UBS Group cut their price target on Salesforce from $260.00 to $200.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Wall Street Zen lowered Salesforce from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, April 18th. Finally, Mizuho cut their price target on Salesforce from $280.00 to $265.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have issued a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $278.82.

Key Salesforce News

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce is generating substantial free cash flow, with fiscal 2026 free cash flow of about $14.4 billion supporting shareholder returns and continued investment in AI products like Agentforce and Data 360. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Several articles point to Salesforce trading at a discounted valuation after a sharp year-to-date slide, which may attract value-focused investors if growth from Agentforce and Data Cloud continues to improve recurring revenue. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Wells Fargo reiterated a Hold rating on Salesforce, suggesting a cautious but not outright negative stance from analysts. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Citigroup lowered its price target on Salesforce to $188 from $200 while keeping a Neutral rating, indicating some valuation caution but still implying modest upside from current levels. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Salesforce has been under pressure recently, with the stock lagging the broader market and falling sharply from recent highs, which is weighing on sentiment. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: New research suggesting the Salesforce delivery lifecycle is “broken” could raise concerns about implementation complexity and execution risks for enterprise customers and partners. Article Title

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.

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