Conning Inc. Sells 4,883 Shares of Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Key Points

• Conning Inc. reduced its Salesforce stake by 18.8% in the third quarter, selling 4,883 shares and retaining 21,111 shares valued at approximately $4.85 million. Institutional investors and hedge funds collectively own 80.43% of Salesforce.
• Salesforce reported quarterly revenue of $11.35 billion, up 10.8% year over year, and adjusted earnings of $5.90 per share, significantly exceeding the $3.27 consensus estimate.
• Analysts remain broadly positive, with a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $278.98, although recent volatility reflects concerns about underlying growth, valuation, and the execution of Salesforce’s AI strategy.

Conning Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 18.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 21,111 shares of the CRM provider's stock after selling 4,883 shares during the quarter. Conning Inc.'s holdings in Salesforce were worth $4,846,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of CRM. Latitude Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Salesforce during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Costello Asset Management INC increased its stake in Salesforce by 410.3% during the 1st quarter. Costello Asset Management INC now owns 148 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 119 shares in the last quarter. ABS Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce in the second quarter worth $610,974,000. ABS Direct Equity Fund LLC purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce in the second quarter worth $25,000. Finally, Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Salesforce in the second quarter worth $26,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.43% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director David Blair Kirk bought 4,176 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 18th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $239.33 per share, for a total transaction of $999,442.08. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 18,748 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,486,958.84. This represents a 28.66% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Craig Conway sold 4,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $260.61, for a total value of $1,172,745.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 5,437 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,416,936.57. This trade represents a 45.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 3.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on CRM. DA Davidson lifted their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 21st. Citigroup reissued a "market outperform" rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Tuesday, October 20th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Salesforce from $250.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, September 17th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated a "sector perform" rating and issued a $250.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, September 17th. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Friday, September 11th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-two have given a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $278.98.

More Salesforce News

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Usage-based AI billing could improve monetization. Salesforce plans to begin charging customers based on the volume of AI-agent calls in November, moving beyond a purely seat-based model. New Agent Fabric tools for testing, evaluation and cost controls may help customers adopt agents and give Salesforce a clearer path to growing AI revenue. Salesforce Brings In Usage Based AI Billing With New Agent Fabric Controls
• Positive Sentiment: Agentforce is strengthening the generative-AI investment case. Recent commentary points to improving Agentforce traction and supports the view that Salesforce can use its large customer base to commercialize AI capabilities, potentially accelerating growth beyond its core customer-management software. Agentforce Growth Strengthens Salesforce’s Generative AI Narrative
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst and valuation coverage remains generally constructive. Zacks describes CRM as a highly ranked growth stock, while other analysis argues the shares look inexpensive relative to Salesforce’s earnings power. The company’s latest reported quarter also showed strong earnings, revenue growth and profitability, supporting the bullish case. Salesforce Stock Looks Cheap Relative To Its Earnings Power
• Neutral Sentiment: Product expansion adds ecosystem value. Fastcall launched mobile calling and SMS integrations for Salesforce on iPhone and Android, broadening customer-engagement functionality, although the third-party announcement is unlikely to materially affect near-term financial results. Fastcall Launches Fastcall Mobile
• Negative Sentiment: Recent volatility reflects execution and valuation concerns. CRM fell in the previous session even as the broader market advanced, suggesting investors remain cautious about whether AI growth will offset slower underlying growth and justify the stock’s valuation. The shift to usage-based pricing also introduces uncertainty around revenue predictability and customer adoption.

Salesforce Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE CRM opened at $242.37 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. Salesforce Inc. has a 12 month low of $146.32 and a 12 month high of $269.11. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $237.98 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $199.18. The stock has a market cap of $199.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.09, a PEG ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.26.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.33 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.91 EPS. 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 12.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Salesforce Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 8th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 17th were given a dividend of $0.44 per share. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 17th. Salesforce's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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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