Vest Financial LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Vest Financial LLC lifted its stake in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 22.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 233,570 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 42,878 shares during the quarter. Salesforce accounts for about 0.8% of Vest Financial LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 28th largest position. Vest Financial LLC’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $61,875,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Board of the Pension Protection Fund acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Key Capital Management INC acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Legacy Bridge LLC acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Marquette Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce during the third quarter worth $26,000. Finally, Texas Capital Bancshares Inc TX acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce during the third quarter worth $28,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Salesforce Trading Up 1.1%

Shares of Salesforce stock opened at $180.17 on Tuesday. Salesforce Inc. has a 12-month low of $163.52 and a 12-month high of $296.05. 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 stock has a market cap of $147.42 billion, a PE ratio of 23.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a 50-day moving average of $187.03 and a two-hundred day moving average of $221.46.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last issued its earnings results 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 company had revenue of $11.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.18 billion. During the same period last year, the company 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. On average, research analysts anticipate that Salesforce Inc. will post 9.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program 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 programs are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 9th were issued a $0.44 dividend. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. This is a boost from Salesforce’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 9th. Salesforce’s dividend payout ratio is 22.54%.

Key Stories Impacting Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Expanded Google Cloud partnership strengthens Salesforce’s AI workflow selling points and deepens technical integration that can help monetize AI agents across enterprise accounts. Google Cloud and Salesforce Enter into Expanded Partnership
• Positive Sentiment: CEO Marc Benioff’s public pledge to hire 1,000 new graduates and his stance that AI won’t eliminate entry‑level roles is positive PR: it signals confidence in demand, supports workforce capacity for customer implementations, and may calm investor fears about automation‑led revenue disruption. Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff Says AI Won’t Kill Entry-Level Jobs and He’s Hiring 1,000 New Grads to Prove It
• Neutral Sentiment: Salesforce filed an antitrust lawsuit in the UK against Microsoft over Teams bundling; the move aims to defend competitive positioning for Slack/Agentforce but introduces legal costs and uncertainty — outcome could be strategically important over the long term. Salesforce sues Microsoft in UK over Teams bundling
• Neutral Sentiment: Market chatter that software vendors (including Salesforce) are beginning to charge customers based on AI usage highlights a potential new revenue stream but also introduces pricing complexity and customer pushback risk as firms transition to consumption models. Market Chatter: Software Companies Begin Charging Customers Based on AI Usage
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst and reporting focus on Agentforce pricing problems flags a near‑term product/monetization issue; Truist says it’s fixable, but the item raises concern about execution and revenue mix while fixes are implemented. Salesforce (CRM): Agentforce Has a Pricing Problem, and Truist Says It’s Fixable
• Negative Sentiment: Competitor ServiceNow reported strong AI‑driven subscription growth, underscoring tougher competitive dynamics in enterprise AI monetization and putting relative performance pressure on Salesforce. NOW’s AI-Driven Subscription Growth Accelerates: More Upside Ahead?
• Negative Sentiment: Coverage pointing out Salesforce as one of the weaker YTD software performers increases investor focus on valuation and execution risks — a sentiment headwind until fresh proof of sustained AI monetization or margin expansion appears. Which Software Stock Has Been The Worst Performer in 2026: Adobe, Salesforce, or ServiceNow?

Insider Transactions at Salesforce

In other Salesforce news, Director Laura Alber acquired 2,571 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 19th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $194.58 per share, with a total value of $500,265.18. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 9,530 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,854,347.40. This trade represents a 36.94% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director David Blair Kirk acquired 2,570 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were acquired 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. This represents a 23.11% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Company insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on CRM. BTIG Research reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $255.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Friday, April 17th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Salesforce from $197.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Salesforce from $365.00 to $320.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. DA Davidson reduced their price target on shares of Salesforce from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Finally, Mizuho reduced their price target on shares of Salesforce from $280.00 to $265.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $279.18.

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.