Salesforce Inc. $CRM Shares Sold by Quadrature Capital Ltd

Key Points

• Quadrature Capital Ltd cut its stake in Salesforce by 63.4%, selling 116,538 shares in Q3 and leaving 67,277 shares worth about $15.94 million at the end of the period.
• Salesforce beat quarterly estimates with $3.81 EPS on $11.20 billion revenue, provided FY‑2027 and Q1 guidance, and raised its quarterly dividend to $0.44 (annualized $1.76).
• Market sentiment is mixed: analysts show a consensus "Moderate Buy" with an average target of $282.06, while concerns over a $25B debt issuance to fund buybacks have prompted some downgrades and credit worries.

Quadrature Capital Ltd cut its position in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 63.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 67,277 shares of the CRM provider's stock after selling 116,538 shares during the quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd's holdings in Salesforce were worth $15,942,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Marquette Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the third quarter worth $26,000. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce in the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,000. Country Trust Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 658.8% in the 2nd quarter. Country Trust Bank now owns 129 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 112 shares during the period. Capital A Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 40.9% during the second quarter. Capital A Wealth Management LLC now owns 155 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kilter Group LLC bought a new position in Salesforce during the 2nd quarter worth $42,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Salesforce

In other news, Director Neelie Kroes sold 3,893 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 in the company, valued at approximately $1,742,271.30. This represents a 34.78% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director David Blair Kirk acquired 1,936 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 17th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $258.64 per share, with a total value of $500,727.04. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 10,677 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,761,499.28. This represents a 22.15% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 3.00% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CRM has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $400.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Truist Financial set a $280.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Salesforce from $398.00 to $287.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. Oppenheimer dropped their price target on shares of Salesforce from $275.00 to $250.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of Salesforce from $325.00 to $305.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have issued a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $282.06.

Salesforce Price Performance

NYSE:CRM opened at $198.68 on Friday. 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 business's 50-day moving average price is $211.70 and its 200 day moving average price is $235.53. Salesforce Inc. has a 52-week low of $174.57 and a 52-week high of $296.05. The firm has a market cap of $183.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.44, a PEG ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.29.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.05 by $0.76. The company had revenue of $11.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.78 EPS. 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, sell-side analysts predict that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 9th. This is a positive change from Salesforce's previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. Salesforce's payout ratio is 21.25%.

Key Stories Impacting Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Strong recent fundamentals and AI momentum bolster investor confidence—analysts and coverage pieces note Salesforce’s robust fiscal 2026 results and rising AI-driven demand that supported recent gains. CRM Stock Up More Than 5% in a Month: Should You Buy, Sell or Hold?
• Positive Sentiment: Product/GTMS initiatives: Salesforce is pushing contact-center modernization with Agentforce, which could drive upsells in Service Cloud and contact-center spend. Salesforce Aims to End the ‘Frankenstein’ Contact Center With Agentforce
• Positive Sentiment: Partner and integration momentum—third-party vendors (e.g., LivePerson, Cloudsquare integrations) are emphasizing Salesforce as the CRM backbone, which supports platform stickiness and ecosystem revenue. LivePerson Announces Event-driven Orchestration Partnership with Coral Active
• Positive Sentiment: Management outreach to investors: recent presentations at Morgan Stanley highlighted record fiscal 2026 performance and strategic priorities for 2027, helping sentiment. Salesforce (CRM) Presents at Morgan Stanley’s Conference, Here’s What You Need to Know
• Neutral Sentiment: Capital markets execution: Salesforce priced an underwritten offering of senior notes (aggregate $25B) with proceeds earmarked for buybacks—a definitive move but execution/terms will determine impact. Salesforce Prices Public Offering of Senior Notes
• Neutral Sentiment: Longer-term context pieces and competitor comparisons (Oracle, ServiceNow) highlight that Salesforce remains a cloud/AI market leader, but growth comparisons show mixed near-term organic trends. What If You Had Invested $1,000 in Oracle or Salesforce 10 Years Ago?
• Negative Sentiment: Tepid demand and higher yields on the $25B bond package have surfaced—reports show investor hesitation and higher required yields, signalling market concern about the leverage and pricing of debt-funded buybacks. Salesforce Sees Tepid Demand for Bond Sale to Fund Share Buyback
• Negative Sentiment: Credit and analyst pressure: rating agencies reacted to the buyback/debt move and some brokers issued downgrades or pessimistic forecasts—this increases financing costs and adds near-term downside risk. Salesforce Weighs Debt Funded Buybacks And Partner Cloud Against Valuation
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst downgrade and bearish notes have pressured sentiment, with some reports calling for lower near-term price targets. Salesforce NYSE: CRM Stock Price Down 2% on Analyst Downgrade

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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