Salesforce Inc. $CRM Holdings Lowered by Courier Capital LLC

Key Points

• Courier Capital cut its Salesforce stake by 40.3% in the third quarter, selling 7,409 shares and retaining 10,964 shares valued at approximately $2.52 million. Institutional investors and hedge funds collectively own 80.43% of the company.
• Analyst sentiment remains positive: Bank of America upgraded Salesforce to Buy and raised its price target to $285, while the stock carries a Moderate Buy consensus rating with an average target of $278.12.
• Salesforce is emphasizing AI growth through Agentforce, its planned acquisition of analytics platform Loops and an expanded DocuSign partnership. The company also authorized a $25 billion share-repurchase program and pays a quarterly dividend of $0.44 per share.

Courier Capital LLC reduced its position in Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM - Free Report) by 40.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 10,964 shares of the CRM provider's stock after selling 7,409 shares during the quarter. Courier Capital LLC's holdings in Salesforce were worth $2,517,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CRM. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd increased its stake in shares of Salesforce by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd now owns 683,790 shares of the CRM provider's stock worth $181,143,000 after acquiring an additional 24,332 shares during the last quarter. Fluent Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Salesforce during the second quarter worth about $2,265,000. TAM Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in Salesforce in the 1st quarter valued at about $40,945,000. Secured Retirement Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Salesforce in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $1,004,000. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its stake in shares of Salesforce by 2.5% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 127,739 shares of the CRM provider's stock valued at $23,846,000 after buying an additional 3,125 shares during the period. 80.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Salesforce News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Salesforce this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Bank of America upgraded Salesforce from Underperform to Buy and raised its price target to $285 from $160. The firm believes AI should deepen customers’ dependence on Salesforce’s enterprise software, citing stronger Agentforce adoption, an attractive valuation and the company’s capital-return plans. Salesforce Just Got a Rare Double Upgrade—What Changed?
• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce agreed to acquire AI analytics platform Loops for an estimated $30 million. Loops is expected to strengthen Tableau and Slack by proactively identifying business trends, anomalies and recommended actions, potentially making Salesforce’s AI tools more valuable and increasing platform retention. Salesforce to Buy AI-Powered Analytics Platform Loops
• Positive Sentiment: Agentforce momentum and the $25 billion share-repurchase program are reinforcing expectations for earnings growth. Recent coverage cited estimated Agentforce annual recurring revenue above $1.5 billion and remaining performance obligations up roughly 14% to $33.5 billion. Salesforce Gets a Rare BofA Double Upgrade
• Positive Sentiment: Salesforce and DocuSign expanded their partnership to bring intelligent agreement management natively to Salesforce, Agentforce and Slack, supporting AI-driven workflows and potentially improving ecosystem engagement. Docusign and Salesforce Launch Intelligent Agreement Management
• Neutral Sentiment: Investors continue to debate whether AI will create durable subscription growth or reduce demand for traditional per-seat software. Salesforce’s shift toward usage-based pricing could mitigate that risk, but Loops integration and Agentforce monetization still need to demonstrate sustained results.
• Negative Sentiment: Short interest has increased, reflecting skepticism about organic growth, while acquisition execution, elevated leverage and broader concerns about AI “cannibalizing” software remain potential risks.

Salesforce Trading Up 1.8%

NYSE:CRM traded up $4.22 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $238.14. 9,069,336 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 13,639,237. Salesforce Inc. has a twelve month low of $146.32 and a twelve month high of $269.11. The business has a 50-day moving average of $228.44 and a two-hundred day moving average of $193.67. The company has a market capitalization of $195.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.71, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 26th. The CRM provider reported $5.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $11.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.33 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.91 EPS. The company's quarterly 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. On average, equities analysts predict that Salesforce Inc. will post 12.82 EPS for the current year.

Salesforce Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity at Salesforce

In other Salesforce news, Director David Blair Kirk bought 4,176 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 18th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $239.33 per share, with a total value of $999,442.08. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 18,748 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,486,958.84. This represents a 28.66% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Craig Conway sold 4,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the director 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. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 3.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on CRM shares. TD Cowen started coverage on shares of Salesforce in a report on Monday. They set a "buy" rating for the company. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $300.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a research report on Thursday, September 17th. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their target price on Salesforce from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, September 17th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Salesforce from $275.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 17th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Salesforce from a "hold (c-)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a report on Thursday, September 24th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-one have issued a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $278.12.

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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