Davidson Capital Management Inc. Reduces Stake in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Davidson Capital Management Inc. decreased its stake in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 31.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 8,158 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after selling 3,814 shares during the period. Davidson Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $2,161,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Board of the Pension Protection Fund purchased a new position in Salesforce during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Key Capital Management INC purchased a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Legacy Bridge LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Marquette Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the third quarter worth $26,000. Finally, Texas Capital Bancshares Inc TX purchased a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the third quarter worth $28,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Laura Alber bought 2,571 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 19th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $194.58 per share, with a total value of $500,265.18. Following the purchase, the director owned 9,530 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,854,347.40. This trade represents a 36.94% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director David Blair Kirk bought 2,570 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $194.62 per share, for a total transaction of $500,173.40. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 13,689 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,664,153.18. This represents a 23.11% increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. 3.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently commented on CRM shares. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their price objective on Salesforce from $223.00 to $194.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 26th. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $325.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. DA Davidson lowered their price objective 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. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $400.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, KeyCorp dropped their price target on Salesforce from $400.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 24th. One 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 given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Salesforce has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $279.18.

Salesforce News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Expanded Google Cloud partnership accelerates end-to-end AI agent deployments across Salesforce and Google tools, addressing fragmented data and making Agentforce + Gemini integrations more attractive to large customers. This can boost adoption and monetization of Agentforce. Salesforce and Google Cloud Enable AI Agents to Act Across Both Platforms with Deep Context and End-to-End Workflows
• Positive Sentiment: Strong Agentforce traction: usage-based pricing and enterprise adoption are driving rapid ARR growth (Agentforce ARR cited at ~$800M, high y/y growth and rising agentic actions), supporting a case for durable AI-driven revenue expansion. Salesforce: AI Is A True Acceleration Driver, Not A Hollow Rebrand
• Positive Sentiment: Product improvement: Agent Fabric upgrade adds centralized control, automated model discovery and governance—features that reduce enterprise friction for multi-vendor AI rollouts and help Salesforce compete on security and manageability. Salesforce Pushes Deeper Into Enterprise AI Control With Agent Fabric Upgrade
• Positive Sentiment: Notable investor interest: Michael Burry is building positions in software names, including plans to buy Salesforce at a discount — a high-profile contrarian vote of confidence that can attract value-minded buyers. Michael Burry plans to buy Salesforce stock for crucial reason
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst support: Truist reaffirmed a Buy after TDX, and coverage highlighting the company as a large-cap buy suggests some analyst conviction behind the rally. Is Salesforce (CRM) One of the Best Large Cap Stocks to Buy Right Now?
• Neutral Sentiment: Short-term momentum/market commentary: Zacks pieces explain why CRM outpaced the market and why it scores as a momentum stock—useful framing for traders but not new fundamental data. Why Salesforce (CRM) Outpaced the Stock Market Today
• Neutral Sentiment: Competitive comparison: Coverage contrasting Salesforce with Adobe highlights areas where Adobe may have an edge on valuation or EPS outlook—an important context for relative valuation debates but not an immediate operational shift. Salesforce vs. Adobe: Which AI-Driven Software Stock Has an Edge?
• Negative Sentiment: Investor caution over AI disruption: Vulcan Value Partners and other commentary flagged AI risks to traditional seat-based SaaS revenue, which has pressured sentiment and contributed to the year-to-date drawdown. That narrative can keep downside risk elevated until visibility on new pricing models is proven. AI Disruption Fears Pressured Salesforce (CRM) in Q1
• Negative Sentiment: Ongoing negative headlines and YTD weakness: Multiple outlets note CRM’s significant YTD decline and “SaaSpocalypse” commentary; CEO pushback helps sentiment but does not eliminate short-term execution and valuation concerns. Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff thinks ‘SaaSpocalypse’ bears are ‘dead wrong’

Salesforce Trading Up 1.5%

NYSE:CRM opened at $189.91 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $187.68 and a 200 day moving average of $222.98. Salesforce Inc. has a 52 week low of $163.52 and a 52 week high of $296.05. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $155.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.29.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.05 by $0.76. The company had revenue of $11.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.18 billion. Salesforce had a net margin of 17.96% and a return on equity of 15.38%. The firm’s revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $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, research analysts predict that Salesforce Inc. will post 9.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Monday, March 16th that permits the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the CRM provider to buy up to 14.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s board 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 dividend of $0.44 per share. 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 dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 9th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is currently 22.54%.

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.