Insider Buying: Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Director Acquires $500,265.18 in Stock

Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) Director Laura Alber purchased 2,571 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the director owned 9,530 shares in the company, valued at $1,854,347.40. This trade represents a 36.94% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Salesforce Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of Salesforce stock opened at $195.14 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $203.92 and a 200-day simple moving average of $233.04. Salesforce Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $174.57 and a fifty-two week high of $296.05. The firm has a market cap of $180.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.18 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.78 earnings per share. Salesforce’s revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 13.110-13.190 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 3.110-3.130 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce announced that its board has approved 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 typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 9th will be issued a $0.44 dividend. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 9th. This is an increase from Salesforce’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. Salesforce’s payout ratio is presently 21.25%.

Salesforce News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Board-level buyback signal — Coverage highlights a record-sized repurchase program (previously reported at ~$50B at the board level), which investors interpret as management saying the shares are undervalued and that EPS should be supported as shares are retired. Salesforce (CRM) Valuation Check As Record US$50b Buyback Signals Confidence In Long-Term Growth
• Positive Sentiment: Insider buying by directors — Two directors (including Laura Alber) recently bought ~2,570 shares each at ~\$194.6, which often reads as management putting personal capital behind the stock. Insider Buying: Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Director Buys 2,571 Shares of Stock
• Positive Sentiment: AI/product narrative remains supportive — Coverage of Salesforce’s agentic AI and Data Cloud pushes reinforces the growth thesis if bookings and enterprise adoption accelerate. Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Expands AI Strategy As Dow Jones Industrials Average Reacts
• Neutral Sentiment: Execution/architecture critique — Analysts and commentary (e.g., Seeking Alpha) argue AI itself isn’t the core problem but that Salesforce’s architecture and integration/execution could limit how quickly AI features translate to sustainable revenue growth. Salesforce: AI Is Not The Problem, Architecture Is
• Negative Sentiment: Debt-funded buyback raises leverage concerns — CNBC reports Salesforce issued \$25B of debt to fund buybacks; that increases financial leverage and raises questions about prioritizing buybacks over organic reinvestment. Salesforce issues $25 billion in debt to buy back stock. Should we be concerned?
• Negative Sentiment: Buyback prompts scepticism about growth allocation — Coverage (e.g., 247WallStreet) questions whether heavy buybacks mask weaker organic growth opportunities and could cap upside if sales momentum stalls. A $50 Billion Buyback Is Raising Questions About Salesforce’s Growth Story
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst target trims — Several firms pared price targets after earnings/guidance, keeping sell-side sentiment mixed and possibly limiting near-term upside. MarketBeat: Salesforce company summary & earnings

Institutional Trading of Salesforce

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Aspire Growth Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Salesforce by 1.2% in the third quarter. Aspire Growth Partners LLC now owns 3,355 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $795,000 after buying an additional 39 shares during the period. Abacus Planning Group Inc. raised its position in Salesforce by 3.1% during the third quarter. Abacus Planning Group Inc. now owns 1,420 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $337,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the period. Byrne Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Salesforce by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC now owns 4,331 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $1,147,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. 17 Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in Salesforce by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. 17 Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,321 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $633,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Code Waechter LLC boosted its position in Salesforce by 5.3% during the 3rd quarter. Code Waechter LLC now owns 871 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $209,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares during the period. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have issued reports on CRM shares. Citizens Jmp reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $430.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a report on Tuesday, December 2nd. Arete Research raised Salesforce to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased 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. Northland Securities reduced their target price on Salesforce from $267.00 to $229.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 10th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Monday, December 29th. One investment 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 assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $280.21.

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.