Salesforce Inc. $CRM Shares Bought by Pallas Capital Advisors LLC

Key Points

• Pallas Capital Advisors increased its stake in Salesforce by 7.8% to 43,560 shares (worth about $11.54M), while insider Director David Blair Kirk bought 2,570 shares at $194.62 and Director Neelie Kroes sold 3,893 shares; institutional investors own roughly 80.43% of the stock.
• Salesforce posted an earnings beat (EPS $3.81 vs. $3.05 consensus), raised its quarterly dividend to $0.44, and the board authorized a $25 billion accelerated share repurchase as part of a $50B buyback program that could retire up to 14.1% of shares.
• Several analysts cut price targets recently (examples: Jefferies to $250, JPMorgan to $320), yet consensus remains a “Moderate Buy” with an average target of $280.21, even as the stock trades well below that level amid sector pressure.

Pallas Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 7.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 43,560 shares of the CRM provider's stock after acquiring an additional 3,169 shares during the quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC's holdings in Salesforce were worth $11,539,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Marquette Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Salesforce during the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Board of the Pension Protection Fund bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the 2nd quarter worth $27,000. Texas Capital Bancshares Inc TX acquired a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the third quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC bought a new position in Salesforce during the third quarter valued at about $39,000. Institutional investors own 80.43% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on CRM shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Salesforce from $365.00 to $320.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on shares of Salesforce from $375.00 to $250.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 23rd. BTIG Research lowered their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $260.00 to $255.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Oppenheimer dropped their target price on shares of Salesforce from $275.00 to $250.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, Northland Securities cut their target price on shares of Salesforce from $267.00 to $229.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have issued a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $280.21.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director David Blair Kirk acquired 2,570 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were purchased 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 owned 13,689 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,664,153.18. This trade represents a 23.11% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 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 owned 7,299 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,742,271.30. The trade was a 34.78% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 3.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Key Headlines Impacting Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Major federal win — Salesforce’s Agentforce autonomous AI agents are being rolled out in the U.S. Department of Labor’s National Contact Center, a large public‑sector deployment that validates scale and recurring revenue potential for AI offerings. Salesforce AI Agents Enter US Labor Department As Valuation Lags Targets
• Positive Sentiment: Healthcare scale use case — The Veterans Health Administration deployed a Salesforce‑powered agentic operating system to automate workflows and save frontline staff hours, reinforcing enterprise traction for Agentforce in large, mission‑critical customers. VHA Deploys Salesforce-Powered Agentic Operating System, Saving Thousands of Staff Hours for Front-Line Veteran Care
• Positive Sentiment: Large buyback thesis — Analysts and commentators highlight Salesforce’s aggressive capital return (including a $25B accelerated share repurchase within a $50B program) as a key catalyst to lift EPS and support the share price as buybacks meaningfully reduce float. Salesforce: Billions Of Reasons To Own
• Neutral Sentiment: Cost and leadership moves — Salesforce is reshaping executive pay, cutting fewer than 1,000 jobs and appointing new leaders; these moves can lift margins but also signal ongoing restructuring risk. Salesforce Resets Executive Pay And Leadership As Shares Trade Below Targets
• Neutral Sentiment: Small analyst tweak — Erste Group nudged FY27 EPS estimates slightly higher, a data point that offers modest support but doesn’t alter consensus materially. (research note)
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst/target pressure — Some outlets report notable price‑target cuts (example: a ~10.8% downward revision reported) that weigh on near‑term sentiment and downside expectations. Salesforce (CRM) price target decreased by 10.84% to 278.01
• Negative Sentiment: Sector sell‑off — Commentary that software stocks have entered a bear market and coverage noting CRM is down since its last earnings report are pressuring the stock; broad sector flows can outweigh company‑specific positives in the short term. Software Stocks Have Entered a Bear Market. Is This the End of the AI Trade, or Just the Beginning? Salesforce (CRM) Down 6.9% Since Last Earnings Report: Can It Rebound?

Salesforce Stock Performance

Shares of CRM stock opened at $179.14 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $165.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.94, a P/E/G ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.29. Salesforce Inc. has a 1-year low of $174.57 and a 1-year high of $296.05. 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 stock's fifty day simple moving average is $198.40 and its 200-day simple moving average is $230.87.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 business earned $2.78 EPS. The business'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, sell-side analysts predict that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.44 per share. This is an increase from Salesforce's previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 9th. Salesforce's dividend payout ratio is 21.25%.

Salesforce announced 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 reacquire up to 14.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.