Salesforce Inc. $CRM Shares Purchased by Poehling Capital Management INC.

Poehling Capital Management INC. raised its position in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) by 415.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,412 shares of the CRM provider’s stock after buying an additional 7,586 shares during the quarter. Poehling Capital Management INC.’s holdings in Salesforce were worth $2,493,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Board of the Pension Protection Fund acquired a new stake in Salesforce during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Key Capital Management INC acquired a new stake in Salesforce during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Legacy Bridge LLC acquired a new stake in Salesforce during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Dogwood Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Salesforce by 285.7% during the fourth quarter. Dogwood Wealth Management LLC now owns 108 shares of the CRM provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Texas Capital Bancshares Inc TX acquired a new stake in Salesforce during the third quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company’s stock.

Trending Headlines about Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Enterprise software stocks are rallying broadly as investors rotate back into the group after recent pressure tied to fears that AI agents could disrupt traditional SaaS models. Salesforce is benefiting from that sector-wide rebound. From ServiceNow to Salesforce: why are software stocks rallying today?
• Positive Sentiment: Some commentary still views Salesforce as an attractive blue-chip software holding, citing AI-related growth prospects and a relatively reasonable valuation versus peers like Oracle. Buy 5 Blue-Chip Stocks to Enhance Your Portfolio Returns in 2026
• Neutral Sentiment: Salesforce’s AI push remains a key debate on Wall Street. Bank of America restarted coverage with an Underperform rating and a $160 price target, warning that AI may pressure Salesforce’s legacy CRM model and make monetization harder. BofA resets Salesforce stock price target with sobering AI verdict
• Neutral Sentiment: Other coverage is also focused on whether Salesforce can prove its AI strategy is working, with investors watching for evidence that Agentforce and related products can offset concerns about slower long-term growth. Software’s “Baby with the Bathwater” Moment
• Negative Sentiment: Market commentary also highlights Salesforce’s recent weakness and the argument that AI disruption could keep investors cautious until growth re-accelerates. Is It Time To Reconsider Salesforce (CRM) After This Year’s 32% Share Price Slide?

Salesforce Stock Performance

Shares of CRM stock opened at $179.46 on Wednesday. Salesforce Inc. has a 12-month low of $163.52 and a 12-month high of $288.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $146.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.14. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $183.27 and a 200 day simple moving average of $214.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.76.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 25th. The CRM provider reported $3.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.05 by $0.76. Salesforce had a return on equity of 15.38% and a net margin of 17.96%.The business had revenue of $11.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.18 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.78 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter 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, equities research analysts anticipate that Salesforce Inc. will post 9.71 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Increases Dividend

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

Salesforce declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Monday, March 16th that permits the company to buyback $25.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the CRM provider to purchase up to 14.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CRM has been the topic of a number of research reports. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $400.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Truist Financial set a $280.00 price target on Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $375.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on Salesforce from $375.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price target on Salesforce from $260.00 to $200.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have given a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $274.56.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Salesforce news, Director Laura Alber acquired 2,571 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 acquisition, the director directly owned 9,530 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,854,347.40. This represents a 36.94% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director David Blair Kirk acquired 2,570 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $194.62 per share, with a total value of $500,173.40. Following the completion of the acquisition, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 3.50% 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.