First National Advisers LLC Invests $1.07 Million in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Key Points

• First National Advisers LLC opened a new position in Salesforce, buying 4,049 shares worth about $1.07 million in the fourth quarter.
• Institutional interest in Salesforce remains strong, with large investors like Capital World Investors and Capital International Investors significantly increasing their stakes; overall, 80.43% of the stock is held by institutions and hedge funds.
• Analysts are mixed but generally constructive: Salesforce has a Moderate Buy consensus and average target price of $278.82, even as some firms cut targets or held neutral ratings amid recent stock weakness.

First National Advisers LLC purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 4,049 shares of the CRM provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,073,000.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Capital World Investors raised its stake in shares of Salesforce by 159.0% in 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 in the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce in the third quarter valued at $484,852,000. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. raised its stake in shares of Salesforce by 285.4% in the third 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. Generation Investment Management LLP acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce in the third quarter valued at $431,157,000. Finally, Capital International Investors raised its stake in shares of Salesforce by 9.4% in the third quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 20,051,119 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $4,753,519,000 after purchasing an additional 1,729,440 shares in the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Salesforce News Summary

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CRM has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Wedbush restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $375.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Tuesday, February 24th. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their price objective on Salesforce from $223.00 to $194.00 and set an "underperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Wall Street Zen lowered Salesforce from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, April 18th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Salesforce from $398.00 to $287.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. Finally, Mizuho dropped their price objective on Salesforce from $280.00 to $265.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $278.82.

Insider Buying and Selling at Salesforce

In other Salesforce news, Director David Blair Kirk bought 2,570 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were bought at an average price of $194.62 per share, for a total transaction of $500,173.40. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 13,689 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,664,153.18. This trade represents a 23.11% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Laura Alber purchased 2,571 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 19th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $194.58 per share, for a total transaction of $500,265.18. Following the acquisition, the director owned 9,530 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,854,347.40. The trade was a 36.94% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. 3.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Salesforce Price Performance

Shares of CRM stock opened at $171.28 on Wednesday. The stock's fifty day moving average is $185.67 and its 200-day moving average is $217.19. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $140.14 billion, a PE ratio of 21.93, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.14. Salesforce Inc. has a 52 week low of $163.52 and a 52 week high of $296.05.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results 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 analysts' expectations of $11.18 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 15.38% and a net margin of 17.96%.The business's revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business 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 research analysts expect that Salesforce Inc. will post 9.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 9th were issued a dividend of $0.44 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 9th. This is a boost from Salesforce's previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. Salesforce's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 22.54%.

Salesforce declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase 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 reacquire up to 14.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.

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