Baird Financial Group Inc. Lowers Stock Holdings in Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Key Points

• Baird Financial Group cut its Salesforce stake by 13% in the second quarter, selling 40,781 shares and retaining 273,547 shares valued at approximately $42.9 million. Hedge funds and institutional investors collectively own 80.43% of Salesforce.
• Salesforce reported a strong quarter, with revenue up 10.8% year over year to $11.35 billion and EPS of $5.90, well above analysts’ $3.27 estimate. The company also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.44 per share.
• Analysts maintain a generally positive outlook, with a “Moderate Buy” consensus and a $266.50 average price target, but valuation and profit-taking risks remain after the stock’s sharp rally. Investors are also watching Agentforce adoption and potential AI-related acquisitions.

Baird Financial Group Inc. reduced its stake in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 13.0% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 273,547 shares of the CRM provider's stock after selling 40,781 shares during the quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc.'s holdings in Salesforce were worth $42,854,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. California State Teachers Retirement System raised its stake in Salesforce by 13,260.5% during the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 188,085,056 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $29,465,405,000 after buying an additional 186,677,290 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the second quarter worth $11,396,844,000. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Salesforce by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 50,080,230 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $13,286,909,000 after acquiring an additional 659,573 shares during the last quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP increased its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 24,056.7% during the fourth quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 47,385,511 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $12,552,896,000 after acquiring an additional 47,189,352 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors increased its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 13.3% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 22,721,010 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $6,019,199,000 after acquiring an additional 2,669,891 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Craig Conway sold 4,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $260.61, for a total transaction of $1,172,745.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 5,437 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,416,936.57. This represents a 45.29% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 3.50% of the company's stock.

Trending Headlines about Salesforce

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Agentforce momentum is improving. Agentforce annual recurring revenue reportedly surpassed $1.5 billion, signaling increasing customer adoption of Salesforce’s AI agents. However, the business remains relatively small compared with Salesforce’s overall revenue base, suggesting a gradual rather than explosive effect on growth. Agentforce ARR Hits $1.5B: Can It Boost Salesforce's Revenue Growth?
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts continue to identify long-term growth potential. Coverage points to stabilizing growth, rising AI monetization and a valuation that remains below some major enterprise-software peers. Salesforce’s recent earnings beat, including quarterly revenue of $11.35 billion and earnings of $5.90 per share, also supports the bullish case. Why Salesforce Is a Top Growth Stock for the Long Term
• Neutral Sentiment: Investors are awaiting next week’s Dreamforce and Investor Day events. Management could provide additional details on Agentforce adoption, AI monetization and future growth targets, potentially clarifying whether the recent rally can continue. Salesforce Is Nearly Fully Priced: Why Bulls Say This Is Just the Beginning
• Negative Sentiment: Salesforce is reportedly in preliminary talks to acquire Listen Labs for approximately $2 billion. The AI customer-research platform was last valued at about $500 million, raising concerns about the purchase price, integration risk and whether the acquisition will generate sufficient returns. The uncertainty appears to be weighing on CRM. Salesforce Has Held Talks to Buy Listen Labs
• Negative Sentiment: Valuation and profit-taking remain risks. After a sharp recent rally, some commentary describes the stock as close to fully priced, leaving less room for disappointment if AI revenue growth does not accelerate rapidly. Salesforce Stock Gains 34% in a Month

Salesforce Price Performance

CRM opened at $244.19 on Thursday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $200.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.26, a P/E/G ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 1.20. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $197.36 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $186.34. Salesforce Inc. has a 52-week low of $146.32 and a 52-week high of $269.11.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 26th. The CRM provider reported $5.90 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.27 by $2.63. Salesforce had a net margin of 21.99% and a return on equity of 24.90%. The firm had revenue of $11.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.33 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.91 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter 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. As a group, analysts predict that Salesforce Inc. will post 12.65 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on CRM. Scotiabank cut shares of Salesforce from a "sector outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. BTIG Research restated a "buy" rating and set a $300.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. Monness Crespi & Hardt lifted their target price on shares of Salesforce from $222.00 to $266.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, August 27th. HSBC upped their target price on shares of Salesforce from $350.00 to $356.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Salesforce from $205.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, August 27th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have given a Buy rating, fifteen have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $266.50.

Salesforce Company Profile

Salesforce, Inc is a cloud-based software company that provides customer relationship management (CRM) technology and related enterprise applications. Its platform helps organizations manage sales, customer service, marketing, commerce, data analytics and business operations through subscription-based software and cloud services.

The company's product portfolio includes Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Marketing Cloud, Commerce Cloud, Data Cloud and the Salesforce Platform. Salesforce also offers Slack for workplace collaboration, Tableau for data visualization and analytics, MuleSoft for application integration, and artificial intelligence capabilities, including its Agentforce platform for building and deploying AI agents.

Founded in 1999, Salesforce is headquartered in San Francisco, California, and serves businesses and organizations across a broad range of industries and geographic markets worldwide.

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