Norden Group LLC Cuts Holdings in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Norden Group LLC cut its holdings in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 74.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,284 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 24,546 shares during the period. Norden Group LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $2,195,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Board of the Pension Protection Fund bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce in the 2nd quarter worth about $27,000. Marquette Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Salesforce during the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Texas Capital Bancshares Inc TX bought a new position in Salesforce during the third quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, Country Trust Bank increased its holdings in Salesforce by 658.8% during the second quarter. Country Trust Bank now owns 129 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 112 shares during the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Salesforce Stock Up 2.0%

Shares of NYSE:CRM opened at $185.56 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $199.36 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $231.38. The company has a market cap of $171.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.76, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.76. Salesforce Inc. has a one year low of $174.57 and a one year high of $296.05.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced its earnings results 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. Salesforce had a net margin of 17.96% and a return on equity of 15.38%. The business had revenue of $11.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.18 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.78 earnings per share. Salesforce’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. Analysts anticipate that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Monday, March 16th that authorizes the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the CRM provider to repurchase up to 14.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The company 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 dividend of $0.44 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 9th. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. This is an increase from Salesforce’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 22.54%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Salesforce

In other news, Director David Blair Kirk acquired 2,570 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $194.62 per share, with a total value of $500,173.40. Following the completion of the purchase, 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 position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Neelie Kroes sold 3,893 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $238.70, for a total value of $929,259.10. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 7,299 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,742,271.30. The trade was a 34.78% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 3.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Key Stories Impacting Salesforce

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on CRM. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on Salesforce from $375.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. UBS Group decreased their target price on Salesforce from $260.00 to $200.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on Salesforce from $235.00 to $225.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Macquarie Infrastructure upped their price target on Salesforce from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on Salesforce from $300.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” 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 issued a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $280.21.

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.