Key Points
- Director Laura Alber bought 2,571 shares at an average price of $194.58 on March 19, a $500,265 purchase that raised her holdings to 9,530 shares (a 36.94% increase), disclosed in an SEC filing.
- Board approved a $25 billion share buyback, authorizing repurchases of roughly 14.1% of outstanding shares, a move the company says signals confidence in the stock's valuation.
- Salesforce beat quarterly expectations with $3.81 EPS versus $3.05 expected and $11.20 billion revenue, and provided FY2027 EPS guidance of $13.11–$13.19 while analysts hold a consensus "Moderate Buy" with a $280.21 price target.
Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) Director Laura Alber bought 2,571 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 19th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $194.58 per share, with a total value of $500,265.18. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 9,530 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,854,347.40. This represents a 36.94% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.
Salesforce Stock Performance
NYSE:CRM opened at $194.89 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $179.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.95, a P/E/G 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. The company's 50-day moving average price is $205.22 and its 200-day moving average price is $233.61. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18.
Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) 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 company had revenue of $11.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $11.18 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 17.96% and a return on equity of 15.38%. Salesforce'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. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Salesforce announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Monday, March 16th that authorizes the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the CRM provider to reacquire up to 14.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.
Salesforce Increases Dividend
The business also recently declared 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 is a boost from Salesforce's previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 9th. Salesforce's payout ratio is 21.25%.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on Salesforce from $325.00 to $315.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 4th. Mizuho lowered their price target on shares of Salesforce from $280.00 to $265.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped 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. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $398.00 to $287.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Finally, Oppenheimer reduced their target price on shares of Salesforce from $275.00 to $250.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have issued a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Salesforce presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $280.21.
Check Out Our Latest Stock Analysis on CRM
More Salesforce News
Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:
Hedge Funds Weigh In On Salesforce
A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CRM. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Board of the Pension Protection Fund acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce in the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Key Capital Management INC purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Gilpin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Finally, Evolution Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Salesforce in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Salesforce Company Profile
(
Get Free Report)
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.
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