Independent Advisor Alliance Sells 7,634 Shares of Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Key Points

• Independent Advisor Alliance cut its Salesforce stake by 17.7% in the fourth quarter, selling 7,634 shares and leaving it with 35,492 shares worth about $9.4 million.
• Salesforce reported stronger-than-expected quarterly results, with EPS of $3.81 versus the $3.05 estimate and revenue of $11.20 billion, up 12.1% year over year. The company also raised its quarterly dividend to $0.44 and authorized a $25 billion share repurchase program.
• Wall Street remains broadly positive but somewhat cautious: analysts have a Moderate Buy consensus rating with a $278.82 price target, though several firms recently lowered their targets and one kept a Hold rating.

Independent Advisor Alliance lowered its position in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 17.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 35,492 shares of the CRM provider's stock after selling 7,634 shares during the period. Independent Advisor Alliance's holdings in Salesforce were worth $9,402,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Rockland Trust Co. grew its position in Salesforce by 1,145.6% during the 3rd quarter. Rockland Trust Co. now owns 13,066 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $3,097,000 after acquiring an additional 12,017 shares during the last quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. grew its position in Salesforce by 98.3% during the 3rd quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 21,455 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $5,085,000 after acquiring an additional 10,633 shares during the last quarter. Midwest Trust Co grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Midwest Trust Co now owns 187,071 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $44,336,000 after buying an additional 4,233 shares during the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 15.1% in the 3rd quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 467,551 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $113,420,000 after buying an additional 61,270 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AGF Management Ltd. grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 42.2% in the 3rd quarter. AGF Management Ltd. now owns 281,054 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $66,610,000 after buying an additional 83,403 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.43% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have commented on CRM shares. Mizuho reduced their price target on Salesforce from $280.00 to $265.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target 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. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $281.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on Salesforce from $300.00 to $250.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an "overweight" rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have given a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Salesforce presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $278.82.

Salesforce Stock Down 3.5%

CRM stock opened at $171.28 on Wednesday. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $185.67 and its 200 day simple moving average 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 debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.76. The company has a market cap of $140.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.23 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 for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.05 by $0.76. Salesforce had a return on equity of 15.38% and a net margin of 17.96%.The business had revenue of $11.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.18 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.78 EPS. The firm'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, research analysts expect that Salesforce Inc. will post 9.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 9th were paid a $0.44 dividend. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. This is a boost from Salesforce's previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 9th. 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 allows the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the CRM provider to repurchase up to 14.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Trending Headlines about Salesforce

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

Insider Activity at Salesforce

In related news, Director David Blair Kirk acquired 2,570 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $194.62 per share, with a total value of $500,173.40. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 13,689 shares in the company, valued at $2,664,153.18. This trade represents a 23.11% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Laura Alber acquired 2,571 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 19th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $194.58 per share, with a total value of $500,265.18. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 9,530 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $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. Corporate insiders own 3.00% of the company's stock.

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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