First National Trust Co Decreases Stock Position in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Key Points

• First National Trust Co cut its Salesforce stake by 28.2% in the fourth quarter, selling 6,936 shares and leaving it with 17,684 shares valued at about $4.685 million.
• Salesforce reported strong quarterly results, with EPS of $3.81 beating estimates of $3.05 and revenue of $11.20 billion slightly above expectations, while revenue rose 12.1% year over year.
• The company also authorized a $25 billion share buyback, increased its quarterly dividend to $0.44 per share, and saw bullish and cautious analyst commentary ahead of earnings.

First National Trust Co cut its position in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 28.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 17,684 shares of the CRM provider's stock after selling 6,936 shares during the quarter. First National Trust Co's holdings in Salesforce were worth $4,685,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Aspire Growth Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 1.2% in the third quarter. Aspire Growth Partners LLC now owns 3,355 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $795,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares during the period. Byrne Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC now owns 4,331 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $1,147,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the period. Mathes Company Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 0.4% in the third quarter. Mathes Company Inc. now owns 12,558 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $2,976,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the period. Fred Alger Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 0.3% in the third quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 14,943 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $3,548,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the period. Finally, Beacon Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 3.5% in the third quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,372 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $325,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares during the period. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Trending Headlines about Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce announced an expanded collaboration with Cint to deliver next-generation AI-powered support through Slack, reinforcing the company’s push into agentic enterprise workflows and AI-driven automation. Cint and Salesforce to Deliver the Next Generation of AI-Powered Support
• Positive Sentiment: Several analyst- and media-driven pieces highlighted Salesforce as an attractive AI and software value play, with commentary pointing to strong upside potential and expectations that Q1 results may benefit from continued digital transformation and generative AI adoption. Salesforce Likely to Beat Q1 Earnings Estimates: Time to Buy the Stock?
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street price-target articles continue to suggest meaningful upside for CRM, with analysts’ average target implying a large gain from current levels and some firms still keeping bullish ratings. Does Salesforce (CRM) Have the Potential to Rally 53.21% as Wall Street Analysts Expect?
• Neutral Sentiment: Salesforce granted 64,296 RSUs to 27 employees tied to the Cimulate acquisition; this is routine retention-related equity compensation and is not likely to materially move the stock on its own. Salesforce Grants Equity Awards to Cimulate Under Its Inducement Equity Incentive Plan
• Neutral Sentiment: Investors are also focused on Salesforce’s upcoming earnings release and expected post-earnings volatility, which adds uncertainty but no clear directional catalyst yet. Here's How Much Traders Expect Salesforce Stock Could Move After Earnings
• Negative Sentiment: UBS flagged a mixed enterprise software spending backdrop and said it sees limited signs of near-term acceleration in bookings, which may be weighing on sentiment into earnings. Salesforce faces tough enterprise software backdrop heading into earnings, says UBS
• Negative Sentiment: Bank of America reiterated an Underperform rating with a $160 target, signaling that some analysts remain cautious on the stock despite Salesforce’s strong market position. BofA Maintains Underperform Rating on Salesforce (CRM)

Salesforce Trading Up 2.3%

Salesforce stock opened at $180.32 on Friday. The firm's 50-day moving average is $182.26 and its 200-day moving average is $212.98. 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 $163.52 and a 1 year high of $280.74. The company has a market cap of $147.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.09, a PEG ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.14.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 earnings per share (EPS) 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 company 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 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter 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. On average, equities analysts expect that Salesforce Inc. will post 9.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce declared that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Monday, March 16th that allows the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows 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 board believes its stock is undervalued.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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 was Thursday, April 9th. This is an increase from Salesforce's previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. Salesforce's payout ratio is 22.54%.

Insider Transactions at Salesforce

In other Salesforce news, Director Laura Alber purchased 2,571 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 19th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $194.58 per share, for a total transaction of $500,265.18. Following the transaction, the director owned 9,530 shares in the company, valued at $1,854,347.40. This represents a 36.94% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director David Blair Kirk purchased 2,570 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $194.62 per share, for a total transaction of $500,173.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 13,689 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,664,153.18. The trade was a 23.11% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Company insiders own 3.50% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CRM has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $200.00 to $185.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $250.00 to $215.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 14th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $235.00 to $225.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Oppenheimer reduced their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $275.00 to $250.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $400.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have given a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Salesforce currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $274.12.

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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