Mairs & Power Inc. Acquires 40,948 Shares of Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Mairs & Power Inc. lifted its stake in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 16.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 294,789 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 40,948 shares during the period. Mairs & Power Inc.’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $69,865,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of CRM. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 13.7% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 25,668 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $8,582,000 after purchasing an additional 3,102 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in Salesforce by 12.6% during the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,827 shares of the CRM provider’s stock worth $611,000 after buying an additional 205 shares in the last quarter. Bison Wealth LLC increased its holdings in Salesforce by 9.0% in the 4th quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 2,234 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $747,000 after buying an additional 184 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Salesforce by 3.7% in the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,958 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $807,000 after buying an additional 106 shares in the last quarter. Finally, United Bank raised its stake in shares of Salesforce by 5.2% in the 2nd quarter. United Bank now owns 10,198 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $2,781,000 after buying an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on shares of Salesforce from $375.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $281.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Citigroup upped their price objective on Salesforce from $197.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Evercore dropped their target price on Salesforce from $360.00 to $340.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 4th. Finally, Citizens Jmp reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $430.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a report on Tuesday, December 2nd. One equities research 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 issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $280.21.

Salesforce Trading Up 2.7%

Shares of CRM stock opened at $198.13 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $182.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.37, a P/E/G ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.29. Salesforce Inc. has a 12-month low of $174.57 and a 12-month 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 50-day moving average price of $209.31 and a 200 day moving average price of $234.58.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $11.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.18 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.78 earnings per share. The company’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. Research analysts forecast that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The firm 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 of this dividend is Thursday, April 9th. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. This is a positive change from Salesforce’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. Salesforce’s payout ratio is 21.25%.

Salesforce declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Monday, March 16th that permits the company to buyback $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the CRM provider to buy up to 14.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Salesforce News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce commenced an approximately $25 billion accelerated share repurchase (ASR) as the first half of its $50 billion repurchase program — immediate delivery of ~103 million shares reduces float and should be EPS-accretive. Salesforce Commences Largest-Ever $25 Billion Accelerated Share Repurchase
• Positive Sentiment: The Board authorized a $25 billion buyback authorization (per reports), allowing repurchase of roughly 14.1% of shares — a sign management views shares as undervalued and a structural support for the stock. RTT News
• Positive Sentiment: Historic ASR headlines from multiple outlets drove buying interest and momentum as traders price in lower share count and near-term EPS lift from the repurchase. Salesforce (CRM) Stock Climbs on Historic $25B Share Repurchase Launch
• Positive Sentiment: Recent fundamentals support the buyback move: Salesforce beat quarterly EPS and reiterated fiscal guidance, giving management room to return capital without sacrificing growth investments.
• Neutral Sentiment: J.P. Morgan published an options-focused note tied to geopolitical uncertainty (Iran war risks), highlighting potential volatility and trading strategies around CRM rather than a fundamental call. J.P. Morgan outlines CRM options play for uncertain Iran war outcome
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst and media coverage (Seeking Alpha deep-dive, Zacks attention, bullish write-ups on Yahoo/InsiderMonkey) is raising retail/institutional interest — useful for momentum but not an immediate guarantee of sustained outperformance. Salesforce: Doubling Down In A Time Of Uncertainty
• Neutral Sentiment: Noted value investor activity (Bill Nygren buys) signals some institutional appetite, which can support the stock over the medium term but is incremental to the larger buyback-driven catalyst. The Legendary Bill Nygren Bought These Value Gems Last Quarter

Insider Buying and Selling at Salesforce

In related news, Director Neelie Kroes sold 3,893 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $238.70, for a total value of $929,259.10. Following the completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director David Blair Kirk acquired 1,936 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 17th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $258.64 per share, for a total transaction of $500,727.04. Following the acquisition, the director owned 10,677 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,761,499.28. The trade was a 22.15% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

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.