DAVENPORT & Co LLC Sells 2,878 Shares of Salesforce Inc. $CRM

DAVENPORT & Co LLC cut its position in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 8.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 31,519 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 2,878 shares during the period. DAVENPORT & Co LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $8,350,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in Salesforce by 13.7% in the fourth 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 raised its position in shares of Salesforce by 12.6% during the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,827 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $611,000 after purchasing an additional 205 shares during the period. Bison Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 9.0% in the 4th quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 2,234 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $747,000 after purchasing an additional 184 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 3.7% in the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,958 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $807,000 after purchasing an additional 106 shares in the last quarter. Finally, United Bank grew its position in Salesforce by 5.2% in the 2nd quarter. United Bank now owns 10,198 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,781,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the period. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Citizens Jmp restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $430.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Tuesday, December 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $340.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 4th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $400.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Macquarie Infrastructure upped their target price on shares of Salesforce from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, December 4th. Finally, DA Davidson dropped their price target on shares of Salesforce from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have given a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $280.21.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Neelie Kroes sold 3,893 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $238.70, for a total value of $929,259.10. Following the transaction, the director owned 7,299 shares in the company, valued at $1,742,271.30. The trade was a 34.78% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director David Blair Kirk bought 2,570 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $194.62 per share, with a total value of $500,173.40. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 13,689 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,664,153.18. This represents a 23.11% 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.

Salesforce Price Performance

CRM opened at $185.56 on Friday. Salesforce Inc. has a 1 year low of $174.57 and a 1 year high of $296.05. 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 company has a market capitalization of $171.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.76, a P/E/G ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.29. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $199.36 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $231.38.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.05 by $0.76. Salesforce had a net margin of 17.96% and a return on equity of 15.38%. The company had revenue of $11.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.18 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.78 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter 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, analysts anticipate that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

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

Salesforce announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Monday, March 16th that allows the company to buyback $25.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the CRM provider to purchase up to 14.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Salesforce News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: U.S. Department of Labor selected Salesforce’s Agentforce to power a new AI contact-center agent (DOLA), a large public-sector reference that validates Agentforce at scale and should help ARR and credibility. U.S. Department of Labor Taps Agentforce to Enhance Citizen Support
• Positive Sentiment: The Veterans Health Administration deployed a Salesforce-powered agentic operating system across 150+ VA centers, representing a major healthcare win and meaningful scale for Agentforce adoption. VHA Deploys Salesforce-Powered Agentic Operating System
• Positive Sentiment: Adecco Group is rolling out Agentforce globally for recruitment workflows, a commercial customer deployment that demonstrates enterprise demand and cross-industry scalability for Salesforce’s AI offerings. Adecco’s Agentforce Rollout Puts Salesforce’s AI Story To The Test
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst commentary highlights a $50B buyback program (including a $25B accelerated repurchase) that should materially cut share count (>10%) and lift EPS, making the stock more attractive on a sub-15x FY27 EPS multiple. Salesforce: Billions Of Reasons To Own
• Positive Sentiment: Coverage noting margin gains from cost cuts and AI-driven revenue improvement — management’s efficiency moves are boosting profitability, though analysts flag future investment needs. Salesforce’s Cost Cuts Boost Margins: Will Expansion Continue Further?
• Neutral Sentiment: Salesforce adjusted executive compensation (skipping raises for director-level and above while increasing stock/bonus pools) and made <1,000 role reductions; shows cost discipline but also signaling continued focus on productivity. Salesforce Resets Executive Pay And Leadership As Shares Trade Below Targets
• Neutral Sentiment: Minor corporate items: equity awards tied to the Apromore acquisition and institutional portfolio moves (e.g., ARK trimming) — not material to fundamentals but worth monitoring for insider/ownership trends. Salesforce Grants Equity Awards to Apromore Under Its Inducement Equity Incentive Plan
• Negative Sentiment: AI-competition and safety fears persist: an earlier selloff followed news that Anthropic’s Claude can control computers, stoking concerns about agent capabilities, regulation and competitive threats that can pressure multiples. Why Salesforce (CRM) Shares Are Getting Obliterated Today
• Negative Sentiment: Coverage noting short-term AI worries and cautious investor positioning has caused periodic volatility despite durable enterprise demand. Salesforce (CRM) Declined on AI Concerns but Remains a Mission-Critical Enterprise Platform

Salesforce 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.