Motley Fool Asset Management LLC Sells 3,249 Shares of Salesforce Inc. $CRM

Key Points

• Motley Fool Asset Management reduced its Salesforce stake by 3.5%, selling 3,249 shares and retaining 88,483 shares valued at approximately $20.3 million. Institutional investors collectively own 80.43% of CRM.
• Analyst sentiment remains positive: Salesforce has a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $278.98, with several firms recently raising targets or upgrading the stock.
• Salesforce reported quarterly EPS of $5.90 versus the $3.27 consensus, while revenue rose 10.8% year over year to $11.35 billion. Investors are also watching Agentforce and usage-based AI billing as potential growth drivers, balanced against concerns about execution and valuation.

Motley Fool Asset Management LLC lowered its stake in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 3.5% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 88,483 shares of the CRM provider's stock after selling 3,249 shares during the period. Salesforce comprises 0.8% of Motley Fool Asset Management LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 23rd biggest position. Motley Fool Asset Management LLC's holdings in Salesforce were worth $20,313,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CRM. Fluent Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the 2nd quarter worth $2,265,000. TAM Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Salesforce during the 1st quarter valued at about $40,945,000. Secured Retirement Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the first quarter valued at about $1,004,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its position in Salesforce by 2.5% during the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 127,739 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $23,846,000 after purchasing an additional 3,125 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Anchor Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Salesforce by 184.5% in the 2nd quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 17,983 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $2,817,000 after purchasing an additional 11,663 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.43% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CRM has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price target on shares of Salesforce from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, September 17th. Mizuho upped their price objective on Salesforce from $265.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 16th. Wolfe Research raised Salesforce from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 27th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated a "sector perform" rating and issued a $250.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, September 17th. Finally, Evercore reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Tuesday, October 20th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-two have assigned a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $278.98.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Craig Conway sold 4,500 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the director directly owned 5,437 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,416,936.57. The trade was a 45.29% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director David Blair Kirk bought 4,176 shares of Salesforce stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 18th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $239.33 per share, with a total value of $999,442.08. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 18,748 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,486,958.84. The trade was a 28.66% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. 3.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Trending Headlines about Salesforce

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 CRM opened at $242.37 on Thursday. Salesforce Inc. has a 1 year low of $146.32 and a 1 year high of $269.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $199.47 billion, a PE ratio of 22.09, a PEG ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.26. 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 50-day simple moving average of $237.98 and a 200-day simple moving average of $199.18.

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

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 8th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 17th were issued 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.04%.

Salesforce Company 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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding CRM? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.