Trust Co. of Vermont Purchases 7,845 Shares of Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Trust Co. of Vermont boosted its position in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 10.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 80,197 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,845 shares during the quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $21,245,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Marquette Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the 3rd quarter worth about $26,000. Board of the Pension Protection Fund bought a new position in shares of Salesforce in the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in Salesforce during the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,000. Texas Capital Bancshares Inc TX bought a new stake in Salesforce during the third quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC bought a new stake in Salesforce during the third quarter worth about $39,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $281.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on Salesforce from $235.00 to $225.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their price objective on Salesforce from $223.00 to $194.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, Guggenheim reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Salesforce presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $280.21.

Insider Buying and Selling at Salesforce

In other Salesforce news, Director Neelie Kroes sold 3,893 shares of the company’s 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 sale, the director owned 7,299 shares in the company, valued at $1,742,271.30. This represents a 34.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Laura Alber acquired 2,571 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 19th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $194.58 per share, for a total transaction of $500,265.18. Following the purchase, the director directly 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 ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. 3.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

More Salesforce News

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Company fundamentals and guidance remain supportive: Salesforce recently reported stronger-than-expected quarterly EPS and raised FY‑2027 guidance, underpinning confidence in cash generation and margins. Earnings & guidance
• Positive Sentiment: Accelerated $25B buyback: Analysts expect Salesforce to materially ramp repurchases in FY‑2027; a large, accelerated buyback reduces share count and supports EPS, a clear bullish catalyst. Salesforce asserts growth and cash trajectory with accelerated $25B buyback
• Positive Sentiment: AI product traction: Agentforce showing 169% ARR growth and strong deal flow, while Slack/Slackbot received a major AI feature boost — both support recurring revenue expansion and cross‑sell into Sales/Service clouds. These product wins help justify higher forward multiples. Agentforce AI growth Slack adds 30 AI features
• Positive Sentiment: Bullish analyst and price-target moves: BTIG reaffirmed a Buy and set a $255 target, giving upside from current levels and supporting investor sentiment. BTIG buy rating $255 PT
• Neutral Sentiment: Insiders/whale activity: Ray Dalio’s Bridgewater disclosed a minor reduction in its long-standing CRM stake; the move appears modest and more portfolio rebalancing than a conviction change. Dalio reduces holding
• Neutral Sentiment: Industry integrations: A compliance‑focused messaging partner launched a native integration for Marketing Cloud (helps adoption in regulated verticals but is incremental). Compliance messaging integration
• Negative Sentiment: Bear activity and sector skepticism: A noted short seller highlighted an “AI paradox” trade against Salesforce and other software names, and broader software sell‑offs this year keep downside risk if AI expectations disappoint. These narratives can pressure the stock despite company-level positives. Short seller activity Sector sell-off context

Salesforce Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of Salesforce stock opened at $186.29 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $171.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.29. Salesforce Inc. has a twelve month low of $174.57 and a twelve 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 company’s 50 day moving average is $196.19 and its 200 day moving average is $229.51.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 analysts’ expectations of $11.18 billion. Salesforce had a return on equity of 15.38% and a net margin of 17.96%.Salesforce’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.78 earnings per share. 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 anticipate that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 9th will be given a dividend of $0.44 per share. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 9th. This is a positive change from Salesforce’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. Salesforce’s payout ratio is presently 22.54%.

Salesforce declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Monday, March 16th that permits the company to buyback $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the CRM provider to reacquire up to 14.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

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.