Midwest Professional Planners LTD. Cuts Stake in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Key Points

• Midwest Professional Planners LTD. reduced its Salesforce stake by 30.1% in the fourth quarter, selling 4,120 shares and leaving it with 9,546 shares valued at about $2.53 million.
• Two Salesforce directors, David Blair Kirk and Laura Alber, recently bought shares worth roughly $500,000 each, signaling insider confidence in the stock.
• Analysts remain broadly constructive but cautious: Salesforce has a Moderate Buy consensus, though several firms have cut price targets, and the stock is trading well below its 52-week high after a weak run.

Midwest Professional Planners LTD. trimmed its position in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 30.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 9,546 shares of the CRM provider's stock after selling 4,120 shares during the quarter. Midwest Professional Planners LTD.'s holdings in Salesforce were worth $2,529,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of CRM. Board of the Pension Protection Fund purchased a new stake in Salesforce during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Key Capital Management INC bought a new position in Salesforce during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Legacy Bridge LLC bought a new position in Salesforce during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Texas Capital Bancshares Inc TX bought a new position in Salesforce during the 3rd quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, Dogwood Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Salesforce by 285.7% during the 4th quarter. Dogwood Wealth Management LLC now owns 108 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares during the period. 80.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Salesforce

In other news, Director David Blair Kirk bought 2,570 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on 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 purchase, 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 ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Laura Alber bought 2,571 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 19th. The shares were purchased 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 in the company, valued at $1,854,347.40. This trade represents a 36.94% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. 3.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on CRM. Roth Mkm lowered their target price on shares of Salesforce from $395.00 to $325.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their target price on shares of Salesforce from $290.00 to $210.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Oppenheimer lowered their target price 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. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Salesforce from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, April 18th. Finally, Northland Securities lowered their target price on shares of Salesforce from $267.00 to $229.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have given a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $274.56.

More Salesforce News

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Enterprise software stocks are rallying broadly as investors rotate back into the group after recent pressure tied to fears that AI agents could disrupt traditional SaaS models. Salesforce is benefiting from that sector-wide rebound. From ServiceNow to Salesforce: why are software stocks rallying today?
• Positive Sentiment: Some commentary still views Salesforce as an attractive blue-chip software holding, citing AI-related growth prospects and a relatively reasonable valuation versus peers like Oracle. Buy 5 Blue-Chip Stocks to Enhance Your Portfolio Returns in 2026
• Neutral Sentiment: Salesforce’s AI push remains a key debate on Wall Street. Bank of America restarted coverage with an Underperform rating and a $160 price target, warning that AI may pressure Salesforce’s legacy CRM model and make monetization harder. BofA resets Salesforce stock price target with sobering AI verdict
• Neutral Sentiment: Other coverage is also focused on whether Salesforce can prove its AI strategy is working, with investors watching for evidence that Agentforce and related products can offset concerns about slower long-term growth. Software's "Baby with the Bathwater" Moment
• Negative Sentiment: Market commentary also highlights Salesforce’s recent weakness and the argument that AI disruption could keep investors cautious until growth re-accelerates. Is It Time To Reconsider Salesforce (CRM) After This Year’s 32% Share Price Slide?

Salesforce Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CRM opened at $179.46 on Wednesday. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $183.27 and its 200-day moving average price is $214.34. Salesforce Inc. has a twelve month low of $163.52 and a twelve month high of $288.44. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $146.84 billion, a PE ratio of 22.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.14.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 prior year, the business earned $2.78 EPS. The business's quarterly 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. Equities research analysts expect that Salesforce Inc. will post 9.71 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Monday, March 16th that permits the company to buyback $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the CRM provider to reacquire up to 14.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company's management believes its shares are 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 paid a $0.44 dividend. This is a boost from Salesforce's previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 9th. 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 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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