Cambria Investment Management L.P. Grows Position in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Cambria Investment Management L.P. boosted its position in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 614.2% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 9,842 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,464 shares during the quarter. Cambria Investment Management L.P.’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $2,333,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Marquette Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce during the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the second quarter worth approximately $27,000. Texas Capital Bancshares Inc TX purchased a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the third quarter worth approximately $28,000. Country Trust Bank lifted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 658.8% during the 2nd quarter. Country Trust Bank now owns 129 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 112 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $39,000. 80.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Salesforce

In other Salesforce news, Director David Blair Kirk acquired 2,570 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $194.62 per share, for a total transaction of $500,173.40. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 13,689 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Laura Alber acquired 2,571 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 19th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $194.58 per share, for a total transaction of $500,265.18. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 9,530 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,854,347.40. This trade represents a 36.94% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Key Salesforce News

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Company insiders (directors) bought shares this week—two disclosures show ~2,570-share purchases at roughly $194.6 each, signaling management confidence and providing a near-term vote of confidence to the market. Insider Buying: Salesforce Director Buys 2,570 Shares of Stock
• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce is pushing “Agentic AI” initiatives and partnering to embed AI agents into workflows (including collaborations reported with NVIDIA), which investors view as core to reaccelerating bookings and revenue growth over time. This supports the bull case for CRM’s longer-term growth trajectory. Salesforce’s Agentic AI Push: Can It Reaccelerate CRM’s Sales Growth?
• Neutral Sentiment: High-profile endorsements remain in the tape—Jim Cramer previously recommended buying CRM (Feb 2025). Such mentions can influence retail flows but are less likely to move fundamentals. Jim Cramer recommended buying Salesforce (CRM) in February 2025
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts have trimmed price targets after the latest quarter but the consensus remains a “Moderate Buy”—mixed near-term takes create a neutral broker backdrop. Salesforce (CRM) stock overview and analyst notes
• Negative Sentiment: A report flags a very large buyback program (coverage cites a $50B figure) after an EPS beat but softer guidance—some investors worry buybacks are being used to lift EPS rather than being matched by reaccelerating organic growth, weighing on sentiment. A $50 Billion Buyback Is Raising Questions About Salesforce’s Growth Story
• Negative Sentiment: Separately, Salesforce completed a large, debt-funded accelerated share repurchase and issued sizeable senior notes to finance it—this materially changes leverage and capital structure, prompting debate over long-term risk vs. shareholder returns. The Bull Case For Salesforce (CRM) Could Change Following Debt-Funded $25 Billion Buyback And Refinancing Transaction

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CRM has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Salesforce from $398.00 to $287.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Truist Financial set a $280.00 target price on Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. KeyCorp cut their price target on shares of Salesforce from $400.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Salesforce presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $280.21.

Salesforce Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of NYSE CRM opened at $194.89 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 has a fifty day simple moving average of $205.22 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $233.61. The firm has a market cap of $179.88 billion, a PE ratio of 24.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.29. Salesforce Inc. has a twelve month low of $174.57 and a twelve month high of $296.05.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its quarterly 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. The business had revenue of $11.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.18 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 15.38% and a net margin of 17.96%.The business’s revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter 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. Analysts expect that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Monday, March 16th that authorizes the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the CRM provider to repurchase up to 14.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.44 per share. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 9th. This is a positive change from Salesforce’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 21.25%.

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.