Salesforce Inc. $CRM Shares Bought by Vest Financial LLC

Key Points

• Vest Financial LLC boosted its stake in Salesforce by 22.5% in Q4 to 233,570 shares valued at $61.875 million, making CRM about 0.8% of its portfolio and its 28th-largest holding.
• Directors Laura Alber and David Blair Kirk each purchased roughly 2,570 shares at about $194.6 (≈$500K each), materially increasing their ownership and signaling management conviction.
• Salesforce authorized a $25.0 billion share buyback (up to 14.1% of shares), raised its quarterly dividend to $0.44, and reported an earnings beat (EPS $3.81 vs. $3.05) while setting FY27 EPS guidance of 13.110–13.190.

Vest Financial LLC boosted its stake in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 22.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 233,570 shares of the CRM provider's stock after purchasing an additional 42,878 shares during the period. Salesforce makes up approximately 0.8% of Vest Financial LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 28th biggest holding. Vest Financial LLC's holdings in Salesforce were worth $61,875,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CRM. Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 13.7% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 25,668 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $8,582,000 after acquiring an additional 3,102 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 12.6% during the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,827 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $611,000 after acquiring an additional 205 shares during the period. Bison Wealth LLC grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 9.0% during the 4th quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 2,234 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $747,000 after acquiring an additional 184 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 3.7% during the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,958 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $807,000 after acquiring an additional 106 shares during the period. Finally, United Bank grew its position in shares of Salesforce by 5.2% during the 2nd quarter. United Bank now owns 10,198 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $2,781,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares during the period. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Salesforce

In related news, Director Laura Alber bought 2,571 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 19th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $194.58 per share, for a total transaction of $500,265.18. Following the acquisition, the director owned 9,530 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,854,347.40. This trade represents a 36.94% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director David Blair Kirk bought 2,570 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was bought at an average price of $194.62 per share, with a total value of $500,173.40. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 13,689 shares in the company, valued at $2,664,153.18. The trade was a 23.11% increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. 3.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Trending Headlines about Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Expanded Google Cloud partnership strengthens Salesforce’s AI workflow selling points and deepens technical integration that can help monetize AI agents across enterprise accounts. Google Cloud and Salesforce Enter into Expanded Partnership
• Positive Sentiment: CEO Marc Benioff's public pledge to hire 1,000 new graduates and his stance that AI won't eliminate entry‑level roles is positive PR: it signals confidence in demand, supports workforce capacity for customer implementations, and may calm investor fears about automation‑led revenue disruption. Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff Says AI Won't Kill Entry-Level Jobs and He's Hiring 1,000 New Grads to Prove It
• Neutral Sentiment: Salesforce filed an antitrust lawsuit in the UK against Microsoft over Teams bundling; the move aims to defend competitive positioning for Slack/Agentforce but introduces legal costs and uncertainty — outcome could be strategically important over the long term. Salesforce sues Microsoft in UK over Teams bundling
• Neutral Sentiment: Market chatter that software vendors (including Salesforce) are beginning to charge customers based on AI usage highlights a potential new revenue stream but also introduces pricing complexity and customer pushback risk as firms transition to consumption models. Market Chatter: Software Companies Begin Charging Customers Based on AI Usage
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst and reporting focus on Agentforce pricing problems flags a near‑term product/monetization issue; Truist says it’s fixable, but the item raises concern about execution and revenue mix while fixes are implemented. Salesforce (CRM): Agentforce Has a Pricing Problem, and Truist Says It’s Fixable
• Negative Sentiment: Competitor ServiceNow reported strong AI‑driven subscription growth, underscoring tougher competitive dynamics in enterprise AI monetization and putting relative performance pressure on Salesforce. NOW's AI-Driven Subscription Growth Accelerates: More Upside Ahead?
• Negative Sentiment: Coverage pointing out Salesforce as one of the weaker YTD software performers increases investor focus on valuation and execution risks — a sentiment headwind until fresh proof of sustained AI monetization or margin expansion appears. Which Software Stock Has Been The Worst Performer in 2026: Adobe, Salesforce, or ServiceNow?

Salesforce Stock Up 1.1%

Shares of CRM opened at $180.17 on Tuesday. The company's 50-day moving average price is $187.03 and its 200 day moving average price is $221.46. Salesforce Inc. has a 12-month low of $163.52 and a 12-month 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 firm has a market cap of $147.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.29.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results 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. The company 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%. Salesforce's revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $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, sell-side analysts forecast that Salesforce Inc. will post 9.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Monday, March 16th that authorizes the company to buyback $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the CRM provider to reacquire up to 14.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically a sign that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 9th were issued 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 yield of 1.0%. Salesforce's payout ratio is 22.54%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on CRM. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an "overweight" rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Wolfe Research reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, January 15th. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their price target on shares of Salesforce from $223.00 to $194.00 and set an "underperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Salesforce from $235.00 to $210.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, TD Cowen decreased their price target on shares of Salesforce from $325.00 to $250.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Salesforce has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $279.18.

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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