2,206 Salesforce Inc. $CRM Shares Sold by Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI

Key Points

• Citizens Financial Group reduced its Salesforce stake by 11%, selling 2,206 shares during the third quarter and retaining 17,804 shares valued at approximately $4.1 million. Institutional investors collectively own 80.43% of Salesforce.
• Analyst sentiment remains positive overall: Salesforce has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $278.98, despite mixed recent recommendations ranging from “Strong Sell” to “Buy.”
• Salesforce reported strong quarterly results, including $5.90 in earnings per share versus a $3.27 estimate and 10.8% year-over-year revenue growth. Its AI expansion, including the planned $5.66 billion Braze acquisition, offers growth potential but introduces integration and near-term return risks.

Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI decreased its holdings in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 11.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 17,804 shares of the CRM provider's stock after selling 2,206 shares during the quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI's holdings in Salesforce were worth $4,095,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Simplicity Wealth LLC grew its stake in Salesforce by 38.2% in the 3rd quarter. Simplicity Wealth LLC now owns 4,843 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $1,112,000 after acquiring an additional 1,339 shares during the last quarter. Madrona Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce during the 3rd quarter worth $214,000. NTV Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Salesforce during the third quarter worth about $244,000. Sowell Financial Services LLC boosted its position in shares of Salesforce by 16.1% in the third quarter. Sowell Financial Services LLC now owns 9,277 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $2,130,000 after acquiring an additional 1,288 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Murphy Pohlad Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Salesforce during the third quarter worth approximately $1,407,000. 80.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on CRM shares. Bank of America raised shares of Salesforce from an "underperform" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $160.00 to $285.00 in a research report on Monday, October 12th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of Salesforce from a "buy" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a report on Monday, October 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on Salesforce in a research note on Monday, October 12th. They set a "buy" rating for the company. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of Salesforce in a report on Thursday, September 17th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Salesforce from $250.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 17th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-two have issued a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Salesforce presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $278.98.

Key Stories Impacting Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce’s AI products are reportedly growing at triple-digit rates, while its Agentforce platform and more than $14 billion in annual free cash flow could support profitable expansion. The company’s valuation may look attractive if AI adoption accelerates. Salesforce Is Betting Big on AI. The Payoff Could Be Bigger Than Investors Expect
• Positive Sentiment: Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “Overweight” rating, indicating continued confidence in Salesforce’s growth outlook and AI transition. Salesforce Stock Rating Reaffirmed as Overweight
• Positive Sentiment: The $5.66 billion Braze purchase could expand Salesforce’s customer-engagement capabilities and strengthen its push from AI defense toward a broader autonomous-agent strategy. Salesforce’s $5.6B Braze Buyout
• Neutral Sentiment: Investor comparisons with Adobe, Arista Networks and Snowflake highlight Salesforce’s CRM leadership, focus on profitable growth and AI-agent pivot, but do not represent new company-specific developments. Salesforce vs. Snowflake
• Negative Sentiment: Investors may be concerned that the Braze acquisition’s $5.66 billion price will increase integration risk and pressure near-term returns. Questions about contracts, pricing and customer impact could temper enthusiasm for the deal. Salesforce to Buy Braze for $5.66B

Insider Buying and Selling at Salesforce

In other news, Director David Blair Kirk acquired 4,176 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 18th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $239.33 per share, for a total transaction of $999,442.08. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 18,748 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,486,958.84. The trade was a 28.66% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Craig Conway sold 4,500 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $260.61, for a total value of $1,172,745.00. Following the sale, the director owned 5,437 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,416,936.57. This represents a 45.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 3.50% of the company's stock.

Salesforce Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE CRM opened at $248.79 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 0.84. The firm has a market cap of $204.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.68, a PEG ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.26. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $236.30 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $196.97. Salesforce Inc. has a 1 year low of $146.32 and a 1 year high of $269.11.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 26th. The CRM provider reported $5.90 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.27 by $2.63. Salesforce had a net margin of 21.99% and a return on equity of 24.90%. The business had revenue of $11.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.33 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.91 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. Salesforce has set its FY 2027 guidance at 16.670-16.710 EPS and its Q3 2027 guidance at 3.420-3.440 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Salesforce Inc. will post 12.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 8th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 17th were given a dividend of $0.44 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 17th. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. Salesforce's payout ratio is presently 16.04%.

Salesforce Profile

Salesforce, Inc NYSE: CRM is a global enterprise software company that provides cloud-based customer relationship management (CRM) technology. Its platform helps organizations manage sales, customer service, marketing, commerce, data, analytics and interactions with customers across digital and traditional channels.

The company's products include Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Marketing Cloud, Commerce Cloud and Data Cloud. Salesforce also offers Tableau for data visualization and analytics, MuleSoft for application integration, and Slack for workplace collaboration.

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