Salesforce Inc. $CRM Position Boosted by Diversify Advisory Services LLC

Key Points

• Diversify Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in Salesforce by 67.8%, buying an additional 9,920 shares to hold 24,562 shares worth about $6.51 million, as institutional investors now own roughly 80.4% of the company.
• Salesforce's board approved a $25.0 billion share repurchase program (up to 14.1% of shares) and raised the quarterly dividend to $0.44 ($1.76 annualized, ~1.1% yield), signaling confidence that the stock may be undervalued.
• The company beat expectations with Q results — EPS $3.81 vs. $3.05 and revenue $11.20 billion — and set FY27 EPS guidance of 13.110–13.190, even as the stock is down about 35% YTD and trading near its one‑year low.

Diversify Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 67.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 24,562 shares of the CRM provider's stock after purchasing an additional 9,920 shares during the period. Diversify Advisory Services LLC's holdings in Salesforce were worth $6,507,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Marquette Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Salesforce during the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. Board of the Pension Protection Fund bought a new position in shares of Salesforce during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Salesforce during the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,000. Texas Capital Bancshares Inc TX bought a new position in shares of Salesforce during the 3rd quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, Dorato Capital Management bought a new position in shares of Salesforce during the 4th quarter valued at about $39,000. Institutional investors own 80.43% of the company's stock.

Salesforce News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Strong underlying fundamentals: recent coverage highlights Salesforce's trailing‑12‑month revenue (~$41.5B), solid profitability (77.6% gross margin, ~13.9% profit margin), nearly $15B operating cash flow and $7.8 diluted EPS — all arguments that the company’s core business can justify a higher multiple over time. Salesforce Stock Is Dropping Today: What's Going On?
• Positive Sentiment: Ecosystem wins / product integrations: Redpanda’s new real‑time, bidirectional connectors to Salesforce position CRM more as a central data hub — a feature that can increase platform stickiness and justify long‑term value capture. Salesforce Connectors From Redpanda Put Focus On CRM Valuation Gap
• Neutral Sentiment: Options activity signaling volatility: recent options flow has drawn attention — heightened options interest can presage larger moves (up or down) around earnings, product news or macro catalysts but is not a directional confirmation on its own. Is the Options Market Predicting a Spike in Salesforce Stock?
• Neutral Sentiment: Valuation debate / buy/hold view: some analysts note CRM is down sharply YTD (~35%) and argue the pullback plus ongoing AI adoption and improving growth make it a hold at current prices — this frames the decline as a potential buying opportunity for longer‑term investors. Salesforce Plunges 35% YTD: Should You Buy, Sell or Hold the Stock?
• Negative Sentiment: Sector shock from new AI models: reports about Anthropic’s latest model and broader headlines have sparked a selloff across software stocks, pressuring CRM as investors rotate toward AI infrastructure and hardware beneficiaries. Anthropic's Latest AI Model Sends a Shockwave Through Software Stocks
• Negative Sentiment: Macro/strategy commentary: high‑profile commentary (e.g., Jim Cramer) indicates a renewed “buy hardware, sell software” rotation, which can keep downward pressure on valuation multiples for large software vendors like Salesforce. Cramer explains the divergence in tech stocks – and why software may continue to lag
• Negative Sentiment: Stock price technical and momentum concerns: coverage noting three‑year lows and a steep YTD decline highlight momentum weakness that can perpetuate selling until clearer positive catalysts emerge. Salesforce stock just crashed to 3-year lows; Here's why
• Negative Sentiment: Competitive/product signals: items about alternatives (e.g., Slackbot as a CRM interface) and specialized Salesforce‑based solutions could be read as both ecosystem expansion and potential competitive friction for certain use cases. Slack instead of Salesforce: Slackbot becomes CRM interface

Insider Transactions at Salesforce

In related news, 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 cost of $194.62 per share, with a total value of $500,173.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 13,689 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,664,153.18. This trade represents a 23.11% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Neelie Kroes sold 3,893 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $238.70, for a total transaction of $929,259.10. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 7,299 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,742,271.30. This trade represents a 34.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 3.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on CRM shares. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $260.00 to $200.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. BTIG Research reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $255.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Wednesday, April 1st. Wedbush reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $375.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Tuesday, February 24th. Mizuho reduced their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $280.00 to $265.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $235.00 to $225.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have given a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $280.21.

Salesforce Price Performance

CRM stock opened at $164.99 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $189.91 and a two-hundred day moving average of $226.46. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $152.29 billion, a PE ratio of 21.13, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.29. Salesforce Inc. has a one year low of $163.52 and a one year high of $296.05.

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. The business had revenue of $11.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.18 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 17.96% and a return on equity of 15.38%. The firm's revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm 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. On average, analysts forecast that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Monday, March 16th that permits the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the CRM provider to buy up to 14.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 9th will be given a $0.44 dividend. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. This is a positive change from Salesforce's previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 9th. Salesforce's payout ratio is currently 22.54%.

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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