UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp Sells 13,771 Shares of Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Key Points

• UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp reduced its Salesforce stake by 23.2% in the fourth quarter, selling 13,771 shares and leaving it with 45,476 shares worth about $12.0 million.
• Several analysts trimmed price targets on Salesforce, though the stock still holds a Moderate Buy consensus rating with an average target price of $279.18.
• Salesforce continues to emphasize its AI strategy, including Agentforce Operations and Agentforce Sales to ChatGPT, while the company also reported strong recent results and approved a $25 billion share buyback program.

UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp cut its stake in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 23.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 45,476 shares of the CRM provider's stock after selling 13,771 shares during the period. UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp's holdings in Salesforce were worth $12,047,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Marquette Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce during the 3rd quarter worth about $26,000. Board of the Pension Protection Fund bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Key Capital Management INC acquired a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Legacy Bridge LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Finally, Texas Capital Bancshares Inc TX bought a new position in Salesforce during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Institutional investors own 80.43% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CRM has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on shares of Salesforce from $250.00 to $215.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 14th. Truist Financial set a $280.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Mizuho decreased their price target on shares of Salesforce from $280.00 to $265.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 26th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on Salesforce from $235.00 to $225.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced 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. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, Salesforce presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $279.18.

More Salesforce News

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce launched Agentforce Operations, a new tool designed to automate complex enterprise workflows, and rising adoption of its Agentforce AI platform is helping reinforce the company’s AI growth story. Salesforce AI Shift Agentforce Operations Links Product Adoption To Valuation
• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce is also bringing Agentforce Sales to ChatGPT, which could expand the reach of its AI-driven CRM tools and support adoption with enterprise customers.
• Positive Sentiment: A new revenue reporting structure beginning in FY27 is intended to align disclosures more closely with Salesforce’s AI-led strategy, potentially making it easier for investors to track how AI products are contributing to growth. Salesforce Inc’s (CRM) New Reporting Structure To Give Better Insights Into AI Driven Growth
• Positive Sentiment: Third-party coverage continues to frame CRM as an AI and big-data beneficiary, with analysts highlighting Salesforce as a play on surging analytics demand and enterprise AI adoption. Top Big Data Stocks Powering the AI Boom as Analytics Demand Surges
• Neutral Sentiment: Several articles compare Salesforce with HubSpot and discuss its competitive position in CRM, but these pieces are more strategic than immediately market-moving.
• Negative Sentiment: Recent coverage also raises a leadership succession question around Marc Benioff, which could create some overhang if investors become more focused on long-term governance and continuity risk. Beyond Benioff: Is Salesforce Ready for Life Without Its Founder?
• Negative Sentiment: Salesforce has also been reported as falling in recent trading, suggesting investors may still be cautious despite the company’s AI initiatives.

Salesforce Trading Down 2.5%

CRM opened at $181.67 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $148.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.26, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. Salesforce Inc. has a 12 month low of $163.52 and a 12 month high of $296.05. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $186.78 and its 200 day simple moving average is $218.91.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last released its 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. 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 analysts' expectations of $11.18 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.78 EPS. The company's revenue 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. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Salesforce Inc. will post 9.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 9th were given a $0.44 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 9th. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. This is a boost from Salesforce's previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. Salesforce's payout ratio is 22.54%.

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

Insider Activity at Salesforce

In other news, Director David Blair Kirk purchased 2,570 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $194.62 per share, with a total value of $500,173.40. Following the transaction, 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 acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Laura Alber purchased 2,571 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 19th. The shares were acquired at an average cost 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 approximately $1,854,347.40. This represents a 36.94% increase in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Insiders own 3.00% of the company's stock.

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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