David Blair Kirk Purchases 2,570 Shares of Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) Stock

Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) Director David Blair Kirk bought 2,570 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $194.62 per share, for a total transaction of $500,173.40. Following the completion of the acquisition, 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 purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

Salesforce Stock Performance

Shares of Salesforce stock opened at $194.89 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The company has a market cap of $179.88 billion, a PE ratio of 24.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a 50 day moving average of $205.22 and a 200-day moving average of $233.61. Salesforce Inc. has a 1-year low of $174.57 and a 1-year high of $296.05.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.18 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.78 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly 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. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Monday, March 16th that allows the company to buyback $25.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the CRM provider to buy up to 14.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

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

Key Headlines Impacting Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Company insiders (directors) bought shares this week—two disclosures show ~2,570-share purchases at roughly $194.6 each, signaling management confidence and providing a near-term vote of confidence to the market. Insider Buying: Salesforce Director Buys 2,570 Shares of Stock
• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce is pushing “Agentic AI” initiatives and partnering to embed AI agents into workflows (including collaborations reported with NVIDIA), which investors view as core to reaccelerating bookings and revenue growth over time. This supports the bull case for CRM’s longer-term growth trajectory. Salesforce’s Agentic AI Push: Can It Reaccelerate CRM’s Sales Growth?
• Neutral Sentiment: High-profile endorsements remain in the tape—Jim Cramer previously recommended buying CRM (Feb 2025). Such mentions can influence retail flows but are less likely to move fundamentals. Jim Cramer recommended buying Salesforce (CRM) in February 2025
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts have trimmed price targets after the latest quarter but the consensus remains a “Moderate Buy”—mixed near-term takes create a neutral broker backdrop. Salesforce (CRM) stock overview and analyst notes
• Negative Sentiment: A report flags a very large buyback program (coverage cites a $50B figure) after an EPS beat but softer guidance—some investors worry buybacks are being used to lift EPS rather than being matched by reaccelerating organic growth, weighing on sentiment. A $50 Billion Buyback Is Raising Questions About Salesforce’s Growth Story
• Negative Sentiment: Separately, Salesforce completed a large, debt-funded accelerated share repurchase and issued sizeable senior notes to finance it—this materially changes leverage and capital structure, prompting debate over long-term risk vs. shareholder returns. The Bull Case For Salesforce (CRM) Could Change Following Debt-Funded $25 Billion Buyback And Refinancing Transaction

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CRM. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC bought a new stake in Salesforce during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Board of the Pension Protection Fund bought a new position in shares of Salesforce during the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Key Capital Management INC bought a new position in shares of Salesforce during the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Gilpin Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Finally, Evolution Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the second quarter worth $27,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CRM has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Northland Securities reduced their price objective on Salesforce from $267.00 to $229.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 10th. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their target price on shares of Salesforce from $290.00 to $210.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their price target on shares of Salesforce from $223.00 to $194.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Salesforce from $260.00 to $200.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Finally, KeyCorp lowered their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $400.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. 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 given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $280.21.

Salesforce Company 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.