NewEdge Wealth LLC Boosts Holdings in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Key Points

• NewEdge Wealth LLC increased its Salesforce stake by 7.4% in the fourth quarter, buying 16,509 additional shares and bringing its total to 240,112 shares valued at about $63.6 million.
• Wall Street remains cautiously positive on CRM, with a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $279.18, though several firms have recently trimmed their targets or downgraded the stock.
• Salesforce is leaning harder into AI through initiatives like Agentforce Operations and Agentforce Sales to ChatGPT, while also benefiting from strong quarterly results, a raised dividend, and a $25 billion share repurchase authorization.

NewEdge Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 7.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 240,112 shares of the CRM provider's stock after purchasing an additional 16,509 shares during the period. Salesforce makes up 0.7% of NewEdge Wealth LLC's holdings, making the stock its 29th biggest holding. NewEdge Wealth LLC's holdings in Salesforce were worth $63,608,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CRM. Aspire Growth Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 1.2% during the third quarter. Aspire Growth Partners LLC now owns 3,355 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $795,000 after acquiring an additional 39 shares during the period. Byrne Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in 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. grew its stake in Salesforce by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Mathes Company Inc. now owns 12,558 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $2,976,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC grew its stake in Salesforce by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 14,943 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $3,548,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Beacon Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Salesforce by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,372 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $325,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares during the period. 80.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on CRM shares. Citigroup increased their price target on Salesforce from $197.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Salesforce from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, April 18th. DA Davidson reduced their target price on shares of Salesforce from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 27th. TD Cowen decreased their price target on shares of Salesforce from $325.00 to $250.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, Northland Securities lowered their price target on shares of Salesforce from $267.00 to $229.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 10th. 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 issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Salesforce has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $279.18.

Key Stories Impacting Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce launched Agentforce Operations, a new tool designed to automate complex enterprise workflows, and rising adoption of its Agentforce AI platform is helping reinforce the company’s AI growth story. Salesforce AI Shift Agentforce Operations Links Product Adoption To Valuation
• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce is also bringing Agentforce Sales to ChatGPT, which could expand the reach of its AI-driven CRM tools and support adoption with enterprise customers.
• Positive Sentiment: A new revenue reporting structure beginning in FY27 is intended to align disclosures more closely with Salesforce’s AI-led strategy, potentially making it easier for investors to track how AI products are contributing to growth. Salesforce Inc’s (CRM) New Reporting Structure To Give Better Insights Into AI Driven Growth
• Positive Sentiment: Third-party coverage continues to frame CRM as an AI and big-data beneficiary, with analysts highlighting Salesforce as a play on surging analytics demand and enterprise AI adoption. Top Big Data Stocks Powering the AI Boom as Analytics Demand Surges
• Neutral Sentiment: Several articles compare Salesforce with HubSpot and discuss its competitive position in CRM, but these pieces are more strategic than immediately market-moving.
• Negative Sentiment: Recent coverage also raises a leadership succession question around Marc Benioff, which could create some overhang if investors become more focused on long-term governance and continuity risk. Beyond Benioff: Is Salesforce Ready for Life Without Its Founder?
• Negative Sentiment: Salesforce has also been reported as falling in recent trading, suggesting investors may still be cautious despite the company’s AI initiatives.

Salesforce Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CRM opened at $181.67 on Friday. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $186.78 and its 200-day simple moving average is $218.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $148.65 billion, a PE ratio of 23.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.14. 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.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $11.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.18 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.78 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 13.110-13.190 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 3.110-3.130 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Salesforce Inc. will post 9.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

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

Salesforce announced that its board has approved 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 reacquire up to 14.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Laura Alber purchased 2,571 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 19th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $194.58 per share, with a total value of $500,265.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 9,530 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,854,347.40. The trade was a 36.94% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director David Blair Kirk acquired 2,570 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $194.62 per share, for a total transaction of $500,173.40. Following the acquisition, the director owned 13,689 shares of the company's stock, 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. 3.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Salesforce Company 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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