Salesforce Inc. $CRM Holdings Lessened by Banque Pictet & Cie SA

Key Points

• Banque Pictet & Cie SA trimmed its Salesforce stake by 0.7% in the third quarter, selling 2,408 shares and retaining 339,496 shares valued at approximately $77.9 million. Institutional investors and hedge funds collectively own 80.43% of Salesforce.
• Salesforce reported quarterly earnings of $5.90 per share, well above the $3.27 consensus estimate, while revenue rose 10.8% year over year to $11.35 billion. The company also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.44 per share, representing a 0.7% yield.
• Analyst sentiment remains generally positive, with a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and a $278.12 price target. Salesforce’s AI expansion—including the Hunter sales agent and Agentforce—supports growth prospects, though investors remain concerned about AI monetization, pricing, and infrastructure spending.

Banque Pictet & Cie SA reduced its holdings in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 0.7% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 339,496 shares of the CRM provider's stock after selling 2,408 shares during the quarter. Salesforce accounts for about 0.5% of Banque Pictet & Cie SA's holdings, making the stock its 27th biggest position. Banque Pictet & Cie SA's holdings in Salesforce were worth $77,938,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the second quarter valued at about $11,396,844,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its position in shares of Salesforce by 130.2% during the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 12,659,217 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $2,363,096,000 after acquiring an additional 7,160,302 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its holdings in Salesforce by 28.0% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 11,724,790 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $2,188,666,000 after acquiring an additional 2,561,923 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc bought a new stake in Salesforce during the second quarter worth $927,332,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in shares of Salesforce during the 2nd quarter worth $844,928,000. 80.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Salesforce

In other Salesforce news, Director David Blair Kirk purchased 4,176 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 18th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $239.33 per share, for a total transaction of $999,442.08. Following the transaction, the director owned 18,748 shares in the company, valued at $4,486,958.84. The trade was a 28.66% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Craig Conway sold 4,500 shares of the business'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 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. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Corporate insiders own 3.50% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CRM has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. CLSA started coverage on shares of Salesforce in a report on Monday, July 20th. They issued a "hold" rating and a $165.00 price target on the stock. Morgan Stanley set a $315.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Salesforce from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 27th. Phillip Securities downgraded Salesforce from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $253.00 to $166.00 in a research report on Monday, June 29th. Finally, Raymond James Financial restated a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Thursday, August 27th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-one have given a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $278.12.

Salesforce Stock Performance

NYSE:CRM opened at $241.00 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 0.84. Salesforce Inc. has a 52-week low of $146.32 and a 52-week high of $269.11. The firm has a market cap of $198.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.26, a PEG ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.26. The business's fifty day moving average is $231.47 and its 200 day moving average is $194.82.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last issued its 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. Salesforce had a return on equity of 24.90% and a net margin of 21.99%. The business had revenue of $11.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.33 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.91 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. 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 predict that Salesforce Inc. will post 12.82 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 8th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 17th were issued a $0.44 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 17th. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Salesforce's dividend payout ratio is presently 16.04%.

Salesforce News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce launched Hunter, an AI-powered outbound sales agent built on Agentforce. Integrations with ZoomInfo, Demandbase and DocuSign could increase adoption of Salesforce’s higher-value AI workflows and make the platform more embedded in customers’ sales and contracting processes. Salesforce unveils Hunter for AI-powered outbound sales
• Positive Sentiment: Bank of America reportedly upgraded Salesforce in a rare double upgrade, citing improving confidence in the company’s AI strategy, including a small AI acquisition and changes to AI-product pricing. The upgrade supports the view that monetization could improve as customers move to premium offerings. Salesforce received a rare double upgrade
• Positive Sentiment: The Loops AI acquisition and new Agentforce capabilities reinforce Salesforce’s effort to turn AI into a growth driver, although investors will need evidence of meaningful revenue acceleration. Salesforce buys the Loops AI platform
• Neutral Sentiment: Investor interest in CRM has risen sharply, with Salesforce appearing among heavily searched stocks. This may increase visibility but is not, by itself, a fundamental catalyst. Investors heavily search Salesforce
• Negative Sentiment: Enterprise-software shares are falling as worries spread that aggressive AI infrastructure and financing commitments may not generate sufficient returns. Salesforce is being pulled lower alongside other AI-linked software leaders. Enterprise software stocks fall as AI financing worries spread
• Negative Sentiment: Investors are comparing Salesforce’s premium-edition price increases with Adobe’s more user-friendly pricing approach, raising concerns that Salesforce’s AI monetization strategy could pressure customer upgrades or retention. Adobe versus Salesforce for AI software growth

Salesforce Company Profile

Salesforce, Inc NYSE: CRM develops cloud-based customer relationship management (CRM) software and enterprise applications. Its platform helps organizations manage sales, customer service, marketing, commerce, analytics, data integration and collaboration through subscription-based services.

The company's product portfolio includes Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Marketing Cloud, Commerce Cloud, Salesforce Platform, Data Cloud and Tableau. Salesforce also offers MuleSoft integration technology, Slack collaboration software and artificial intelligence capabilities through its Einstein platform.

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