HF Advisory Group LLC Boosts Position in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

HF Advisory Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 1,252.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 105,176 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after buying an additional 97,402 shares during the quarter. Salesforce accounts for 1.1% of HF Advisory Group LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest position. HF Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $27,862,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Rockland Trust Co. lifted its stake in shares of Salesforce by 1,145.6% during the third quarter. Rockland Trust Co. now owns 13,066 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $3,097,000 after purchasing an additional 12,017 shares in the last quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Salesforce by 98.3% during the 3rd quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 21,455 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $5,085,000 after acquiring an additional 10,633 shares in the last quarter. Midwest Trust Co boosted its holdings in Salesforce by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Midwest Trust Co now owns 187,071 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $44,336,000 after acquiring an additional 4,233 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its position in Salesforce by 15.1% in the third quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 467,551 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $113,420,000 after acquiring an additional 61,270 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AGF Management Ltd. grew its position in Salesforce by 42.2% in the third quarter. AGF Management Ltd. now owns 281,054 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $66,610,000 after acquiring an additional 83,403 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Stock Down 0.2%

NYSE:CRM opened at $186.29 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.76. The company has a market capitalization of $171.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.29. Salesforce Inc. has a one year low of $174.57 and a one year high of $296.05. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $196.19 and a 200 day simple moving average of $229.51.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 earnings per share (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 analysts’ expectations of $11.18 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 15.38% and a net margin of 17.96%.Salesforce’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.78 earnings per share. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 13.110-13.190 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 3.110-3.130 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 9th will be issued a $0.44 dividend. This is a boost 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%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 9th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is presently 22.54%.

Salesforce declared that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Monday, March 16th that authorizes the company to buyback $25.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the CRM provider to purchase up to 14.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Key Stories Impacting Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Company fundamentals and guidance remain supportive: Salesforce recently reported stronger-than-expected quarterly EPS and raised FY?2027 guidance, underpinning confidence in cash generation and margins. Earnings & guidance
• Positive Sentiment: Accelerated $25B buyback: Analysts expect Salesforce to materially ramp repurchases in FY?2027; a large, accelerated buyback reduces share count and supports EPS, a clear bullish catalyst. Salesforce asserts growth and cash trajectory with accelerated $25B buyback
• Positive Sentiment: AI product traction: Agentforce showing 169% ARR growth and strong deal flow, while Slack/Slackbot received a major AI feature boost — both support recurring revenue expansion and cross?sell into Sales/Service clouds. These product wins help justify higher forward multiples. Agentforce AI growth Slack adds 30 AI features
• Positive Sentiment: Bullish analyst and price-target moves: BTIG reaffirmed a Buy and set a $255 target, giving upside from current levels and supporting investor sentiment. BTIG buy rating $255 PT
• Neutral Sentiment: Insiders/whale activity: Ray Dalio’s Bridgewater disclosed a minor reduction in its long-standing CRM stake; the move appears modest and more portfolio rebalancing than a conviction change. Dalio reduces holding
• Neutral Sentiment: Industry integrations: A compliance?focused messaging partner launched a native integration for Marketing Cloud (helps adoption in regulated verticals but is incremental). Compliance messaging integration
• Negative Sentiment: Bear activity and sector skepticism: A noted short seller highlighted an “AI paradox” trade against Salesforce and other software names, and broader software sell?offs this year keep downside risk if AI expectations disappoint. These narratives can pressure the stock despite company-level positives. Short seller activity Sector sell-off context

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Salesforce from $365.00 to $320.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $250.00 price objective (down from $280.00) on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Roth Mkm decreased their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $395.00 to $325.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on Salesforce from $235.00 to $225.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have given a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Salesforce currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $280.21.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Salesforce news, Director Laura Alber purchased 2,571 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 19th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $194.58 per share, with a total value of $500,265.18. Following the acquisition, the director owned 9,530 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,854,347.40. This represents a 36.94% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director David Blair Kirk acquired 2,570 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $194.62 per share, with a total value of $500,173.40. Following the transaction, the director owned 13,689 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,664,153.18. The trade was a 23.11% increase in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. 3.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.