Thompson Investment Management Inc. Buys 13,459 Shares of Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Key Points

• Thompson Investment Management boosted its stake in Salesforce by 151.5%, acquiring an additional 13,459 shares to hold 22,342 shares valued at about $5.919 million per its latest 13F filing.
• Salesforce's board approved a $25 billion accelerated share repurchase (part of a $50 billion program) and raised the quarterly dividend to $0.44, signaling aggressive capital returns to shareholders.
• The company posted an EPS beat ($3.81 vs. $3.05) on $11.20 billion revenue (up 12.1% YoY), and directors David Blair Kirk and Laura Alber each purchased roughly 2,570 shares (~$500k), increasing insider ownership.

Thompson Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 151.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 22,342 shares of the CRM provider's stock after acquiring an additional 13,459 shares during the quarter. Thompson Investment Management Inc.'s holdings in Salesforce were worth $5,919,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Marquette Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Salesforce in the third quarter worth approximately $26,000. Board of the Pension Protection Fund purchased a new stake in Salesforce during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Salesforce during the 2nd quarter valued at $27,000. Texas Capital Bancshares Inc TX bought a new position in shares of Salesforce during the 3rd quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce in the 3rd quarter worth $39,000. 80.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Salesforce

In other Salesforce news, Director David Blair Kirk bought 2,570 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were bought at an average price of $194.62 per share, with a total value of $500,173.40. Following the purchase, the director 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 SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Laura Alber purchased 2,571 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 19th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $194.58 per share, with a total value of $500,265.18. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 9,530 shares in the company, valued at $1,854,347.40. This trade represents a 36.94% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 3.00% of the company's stock.

Key Salesforce News

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

CRM opened at $179.14 on Monday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $198.40 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $230.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The firm has a market cap of $165.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.94, a PEG ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.29. Salesforce Inc. has a 1-year low of $174.57 and a 1-year high of $296.05.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.05 by $0.76. The firm had revenue of $11.20 billion for 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%. The company's revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm 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. Equities analysts forecast that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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. 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. Salesforce's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.54%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CRM has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Arete Research raised Salesforce to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Truist Financial set a $280.00 target price on Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Roth Mkm cut their price target on Salesforce from $395.00 to $325.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Northland Securities reduced their price target on shares of Salesforce from $267.00 to $229.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 10th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an "overweight" rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. One research 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $280.21.

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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