Rathbones Group PLC Sells 198,121 Shares of Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Rathbones Group PLC decreased its holdings in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 24.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 603,572 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 198,121 shares during the period. Rathbones Group PLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $159,892,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of CRM. Board of the Pension Protection Fund bought a new stake in Salesforce in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Key Capital Management INC bought a new stake in Salesforce in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Legacy Bridge LLC bought a new stake in Salesforce in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Texas Capital Bancshares Inc TX bought a new stake in Salesforce in the third quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Finally, Dogwood Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Salesforce by 285.7% in the fourth quarter. Dogwood Wealth Management LLC now owns 108 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 80 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Laura Alber acquired 2,571 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 19th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $194.58 per share, for a total transaction of $500,265.18. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 9,530 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,854,347.40. The trade was a 36.94% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director David Blair Kirk acquired 2,570 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were bought at an average price of $194.62 per share, for a total transaction of $500,173.40. Following 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 disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. 3.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Key Salesforce News

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Investor sentiment improved as markets softened their view of the existential threat AI poses to traditional software companies, helping Salesforce shares rebound. Why Salesforce (CRM) Stock Is Trading Up Today
• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce’s Agentforce initiative continues to gain traction, with nearly $800 million in ARR and more than 29,000 deals, supporting the bull case that AI can reignite subscription growth. Salesforce Bets on Agentic AI: Will It Lift Subscription Growth?
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street expectations are still centered on earnings growth next week, and some coverage argues Salesforce has the ingredients for another earnings beat. Salesforce (CRM) Reports Next Week: Wall Street Expects Earnings Growth
• Neutral Sentiment: Several articles framed Salesforce as part of a broader software-sector rebound, with investors rotating back into enterprise software names amid the AI debate. From ServiceNow to Salesforce: why are software stocks rallying today?
• Neutral Sentiment: A new partnership with TTEC Digital could help Salesforce push Agentforce into production environments, but it is still early-stage execution news rather than a near-term financial catalyst. Salesforce TTEC Digital Partnership Puts Agentforce Production Use In Focus
• Negative Sentiment: Bank of America reinstated Salesforce with an Underperform rating and a $160 price target, warning that the company faces an “AI-driven structural reset” that could pressure growth and valuation. Salesforce rated ‘Underperform’ by Bank of America on AI growth concerns
• Negative Sentiment: Citi also cut its target on Salesforce, citing slower deal activity and rising competitive pressure, reinforcing concerns that sales momentum may be cooling. Citi Lowers Target on Salesforce (CRM) Over Slower Deal Activity

Salesforce Price Performance

Salesforce stock opened at $180.23 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $182.90 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $213.80. Salesforce Inc. has a one year low of $163.52 and a one year high of $287.63. 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 $147.47 billion, a PE ratio of 23.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.14.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.18 billion. During the same quarter last 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 expect that Salesforce Inc. will post 9.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 9th were paid a dividend of $0.44 per share. This is a boost from Salesforce’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 9th. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is 22.54%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on CRM shares. TD Cowen lowered their target price on Salesforce from $325.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Barclays lowered their target price on Salesforce from $265.00 to $252.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Truist Financial set a $280.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $375.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. Finally, DA Davidson lowered 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 investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have given a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $274.56.

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.